The government announces 2025 as the year of 5G in Pakistan. The aim is to achieve a broadband speed of around 50-100Mbps and a rise in Fiber-to-the-Site (FTTS) by 60%.
Amer Shahzad, DG Licencing presented this news at the Nation Broadband Network Forum 2024, organized by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) with the help of Chinese Smartphone giant Huawei.
Shazad revealed the 5G auction date as April 2025, and praises, it would be a great milestone achieved by Pakistan in the upcoming year.
He also shared that the FBB (fixed broadband) penetration, which is at 2% for now, is aimed to rise to 20% in the next 5 years.
DG emphasizes that the current low speed of broadband, which is 15Mbps, is targeted to improve near 50-100Mbps and admits the low FTTS coverage stands at 20%. The government will follow the plan to increase FTTS by 60%.
Shahzad highlights the importance of OFC (optical fiber cables) in telecom infrastructure and the adoption of a 5G network in Pakistan. He published the Government’s Plan of National Fiberization to increase FTTS penetration and improve OFC setup.
Shahzad came up with a proposal to launch a 1Gbps connection deployment in Islamabad as a pilot project, and then aim to spread the mission nationwide.
Along with the increased length of the fiber network footprint from 200,000 kilometers to 500,000 kilometers.
