Pakistan has around 1.8 million 5G users, with services now introduced in 24 cities, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom on Tuesday. The minister said the government held the 5G spectrum auction to bring the technology to Pakistan, and commercial services began in March 2026 after the auction on March 10. The user base is growing quickly. In August, officials had reported about 1.3 million users across 23 cities and more than 1,200 active sites, which means roughly 500,000 users have been added in under three months, an increase of nearly 38 percent. According to figures reported after the meeting, the number of operational 5G sites has now reached 1,782.
Members of the committee did not dispute the growth but questioned the quality of the networks that users already rely on. Lawmakers asked how Pakistan could move towards 5G when users in several areas still struggle with basic 3G and 4G connectivity. One member said mobile internet services had deteriorated since the introduction of 5G, while another complained that even basic network services were not available in parts of Sindh. The committee chairman raised the uneven spread of the new infrastructure, pointing out that Sukkur, the third largest city in Sindh, has only two 5G sites. These remarks show that the benefits of the rollout are currently concentrated in the largest urban centres, and that people in mid sized cities and rural districts are still waiting for better service.
The minister acknowledged that telecom services face a number of challenges, including infrastructure theft and electricity related problems, both of which affect the uptime of towers and the quality of signals. She also highlighted the growing demand for internet services across the country and said social media platforms and artificial intelligence have significantly increased data consumption, which puts additional pressure on networks. The scale of that demand was illustrated at the same meeting by PTA Chairman Major General retired Hafeez ur Rehman, who told the committee that Pakistan records 560 million YouTube video views every day, that around 96 million people use the platform, and that Pakistanis make one billion WhatsApp calls daily, while about 150 million people watch TikTok videos.
The numbers point to both the opportunity and the difficulty ahead. A user base approaching two million within eight months of launch shows that there is real interest in faster mobile internet, although the speed of adoption also depends on the availability of affordable 5G smartphones, wider coverage, and dependable service. For operators, the task is to bring more sites online outside the main cities and to keep existing 3G and 4G networks in good condition at the same time, since most subscribers will continue to rely on them for years. The government said it is working to improve services, and the committee’s questions suggest that lawmakers will look closely at site numbers and coverage outside the large cities in the coming months.
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