Policymakers, regulators, and telecom industry leaders gathered at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad for a public-private dialogue on building Pakistan’s fifth-generation economy, where a clear and consistent message emerged: the infrastructure, the spectrum, and the ambition exist, but excessive taxation, outdated right-of-way frameworks, and inadequate demand-side policies are creating barriers that could significantly delay the country from realising the full economic potential of its fifth-generation investment. Researchers told participants that a well-integrated fifth-generation rollout across industry, health, and education could generate productivity gains of up to five percent annually, translating into nearly $20 billion in additional economic output for Pakistan every single year.
Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan opened the dialogue with a direct warning that Pakistan could not afford to miss the knowledge economy, having already failed to capitalise on earlier industrial revolutions. He confirmed that a Data Protection Bill had been tabled in the Senate, framing it as an essential precondition for attracting foreign direct investment into data centres, noting that international investors consistently prioritise countries with strong data protection legislation before committing capital to technology infrastructure. Dr Sajid Amin Javed of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute reinforced the economic case, stating that even a moderate fifth-generation rollout could raise Pakistan’s economic productivity by two to three percent annually, while Dr Muhammad Mukkaram Khan of PTA revealed that the authority was actively working to reduce dependence on submarine cables that remain vulnerable to disruptions from ongoing regional conflicts, directing operators to develop satellite links and synchronise network time protocols with China to ensure service continuity.
On the taxation front, Jazz representative Fatima Akhtar delivered the industry’s position plainly, stating that nearly 35 to 40 percent of operator revenues were currently being paid as taxes, making meaningful infrastructure reinvestment exceptionally difficult. She also flagged that only five percent of small and medium enterprises in Pakistan had been digitised, highlighting the enormous gap between the current state of Pakistan’s digital economy and the ambitions being discussed at the policy level. The right-of-way barrier received specific attention from Adnan Waheed of PTCL, who described high taxation on fibre equipment and right-of-way payments as the two biggest impediments to expanding digital connectivity infrastructure at scale. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication’s Jahanzaib Raheem acknowledged the problem, noting that right-of-way charges had previously accounted for nearly 30 percent of total telecom investment costs and confirming that the government had abolished such charges at both national and provincial levels to encourage large-scale infrastructure deployment. Muhammad Aslam Hayat of LIRNEasia urged the government to go further by adopting comprehensive demand-side fifth-generation policies, reducing taxes on devices, and enabling private industrial fifth-generation networks, while Dr Shafqat Munir of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute cautioned that spectrum would remain underutilised unless institutional mindsets changed and existing infrastructure weaknesses were systematically addressed, a reminder that policy announcements alone are insufficient without the operational follow-through to back them up.
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