Jazz President Kazim Mujtaba used his address at the Asia Pacific Telecommunity Symposium to make the case that Pakistan’s artificial intelligence opportunity is fundamentally a connectivity and affordability challenge, not merely a technology one, arguing that the benefits of artificial intelligence can only reach their full potential when farmers, small businesses, and underserved communities across the country have access to affordable smartphones, reliable networks, and the skills to put artificial intelligence tools to practical use. He called for a structured collaboration between Jazz, the Universal Service Fund, and broader industry partners to build on the Universal Service Fund’s existing work in underserved areas and move into a next phase of infrastructure and device access that makes participation in the artificial intelligence economy possible well beyond Pakistan’s major cities.
Mujtaba identified three interconnected requirements for delivering on Pakistan’s artificial intelligence opportunity at scale: fibre infrastructure capable of supporting high-capacity backhaul, advanced mobile connectivity through fifth-generation networks, and device affordability programmes that lower the upfront cost of accessing fifth-generation-capable smartphones for consumers who cannot absorb full purchase prices. He positioned these not as sequential investments but as components that need to move together, noting that expanding network coverage without addressing device affordability creates a connectivity infrastructure that a large portion of the intended beneficiaries cannot actually access, while device penetration without network reach produces the same outcome in reverse.
The remarks come as Jazz continues expanding its fifth-generation network following the spectrum auction concluded in March 2026, with the operator having launched commercial fifth-generation services across select urban areas and working toward broader national coverage. Mujtaba framed adoption, rather than deployment alone, as the measure of whether the fifth-generation investment delivers real value, emphasising that network expansion is a means to an end rather than an achievement in itself unless it translates into meaningful usage and economic participation by a growing number of Pakistani users across diverse income levels and geographies.
Jazz’s explicit willingness to collaborate with the Universal Service Fund on device penetration and connectivity extension signals a strategic alignment between the operator’s commercial fifth-generation ambitions and the fund’s mandate to expand digital access in areas where market forces alone have not produced sufficient investment. The Universal Service Fund has historically funded connectivity infrastructure in underserved districts, and Jazz’s proposal to layer device affordability programmes and advanced connectivity onto that foundation reflects an attempt to build a more integrated public-private model for digital inclusion that can accompany Pakistan’s artificial intelligence and fifth-generation development agenda into its next phase.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
