Despite the recent rollout of fifth-generation mobile services in Pakistan, internet speeds remain frustratingly slow across major metropolitan cities including Karachi, Lahore, and even the capital Islamabad, while regions such as Azad Kashmir and Balochistan continue to experience connectivity conditions far removed from what fifth-generation technology is meant to deliver. Pakistan’s average internet speed currently stands at 25 megabits per second, placing the country at 198th position globally, and telecom experts are increasingly pointing to one underlying structural problem as the primary reason the 5G experience has failed to match expectations: the country’s severe deficit in optical fiber infrastructure.
Optical fiber deployment is the essential foundation for any successful fifth-generation rollout, yet Pakistan’s current fiber penetration at the tower level stands at only 15 to 18 percent of all cell sites, a figure that lags significantly behind regional benchmarks and forces the vast majority of towers to rely on microwave links that are simply incapable of supporting the high-capacity, low-latency demands of 5G networks. Pakistan’s total fiber footprint exceeds 211,000 kilometers, but inadequate backhaul density severely limits the technology’s potential, with the country ranked 76th out of 93 economies on the Fiber Development Index. The economics of fiber expansion in Pakistan are also structurally unfavorable compared to regional peers. Unlike India, which charges a one-time fee of roughly one rupee per meter for right-of-way approvals, Pakistan levies between PKR 35 and PKR 60 per meter on an annual basis, effectively converting what should be a single capital expenditure into a permanent and recurring operational cost that actively discourages investment in new fiber deployment. Right-of-way approvals themselves involve a fragmented web of authorities spanning municipalities, cantonments, and development bodies, creating procedural delays of between 12 and 18 months that slow expansion even when operators are willing to invest. The government’s recent decision to abolish right-of-way charges on key corridors offers some relief, but industry observers say it does not go far enough.
The financial case for accelerated fiber deployment remains challenging even setting aside the regulatory hurdles. Fiberizing a single tower site costs between $10,000 and $20,000, and with tens of thousands of sites requiring upgrades across the country, the total capital commitment extends well beyond the half a billion dollars raised through spectrum auctions. High inflation, low average revenue per user, and heavy taxation further reduce operators’ capacity to invest in trenching and last-mile fiber at the pace required, while terrain variations, flooding risks, and a shortage of skilled workers for fiber splicing and installation add further execution complexity. Experts have emphasized that both the government through the Universal Service Fund and telecom operators need to make substantial coordinated investments to close the gap, with the government having earmarked Rs. 35.7 billion out of a total allocation of Rs. 141 billion for telecom operators specifically to expand optical fiber cable networks in underserved regions. Industry analysis suggests that without accelerating fiber connectivity to at least 60 percent of cell sites within the coming years, fifth-generation services will continue to suffer from capacity bottlenecks, making the technology’s promise of faster speeds and lower latency effectively unreachable for most Pakistani users and undermining the country’s broader digital transformation goals.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
