Pakistan is worlds 2nd fastest-growing telecoms market

Pakistan is now the second fastest growing telecoms market in the world (after China), with competition driving down prices and radically accelerating improvements in teledensity.~ ~ Pakistan is said to be four years ahead of World Bank growth predictions, and officials are delighted the success of liberalisation policies and other initiatives that have been introduced to stimulate competition.~ ~ This year has seen the launch of Pakistan’s sixth mobile operator and with networks now extending well beyond metropolitan areas, subscriptions are surging by more than a million new customers every month.~ ~ According to Pakistan’s IT minister, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, the World Bank had previously predicted that the country’s teledensity would reach 10% within the next five years but that forecast has already been surpassed – four years ahead of time.~ ~ Commenting, the minister said, “During the consultancy process with the World Bank ahead of the changes to our mobile cellular policy last year, we were told [by the World Bank] that the teledensity in Pakistan would reach 10% in the next five years but we have crossed the mark within one year with out teledensity going past 11%.”~ ~ According to Mr. Awais, competition has resulted in call tariffs dropping ten-fold over the last few years.

The minister said that a call from Islamabad to Karachi that was charged at around Rs.40 (US$0.67) in 2002 now costs just Rs.4 ($0.06) and added further increased competition will result in even cheaper call rates in due course.~ ~ He said, “Besides affordable rates, another reason for this fast-paced roll-out of telecom services is a growing purchasing power in the countryside. I foresee Pakistan emerging as an interesting place in the next few years for investors in the area of infrastructure development.”~ ~ Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, announced this weekend that the country now has the world’s second fastest growing telecoms sector after China. Pointing to rising teledensity and continuing infrastructure rollouts, he said, “Pakistan’s telecom industry is a success story. It is the second fastest growing industry in the world after China.”~ ~ Meanwhile, minister Awais said the government is planning new measures to ensure and further stimulate competition, including legislation aimed at checking anti-competitive behaviour, facilitating growth and ensuring continuity of telecom policies.~ ~ He added that the government is just “weeks away” from confirming the establishment of Pakistan’s universal service fund under which operators will contribute 1.5% of their revenue to the development of communications services in remote areas, and also announced that he is to examine new ways to promote the sharing of infrastructure. ~ ~ “Despite the buoyancy of the telecoms sector we are by no means complacent. We are keeping a close look-out and will be quick to bring out incentive-based incentives without changing the spirit of the existing policies which will stay in place for their stipulated periods,” he said.~