Pakistan has officially confirmed that 5G services will be launched around Eid al-Fitr, with PTA having completed all necessary preparations to formally issue licences to the telecom companies that secured spectrum in the recently concluded auction. The licence issuance will take place at a special ceremony at the Prime Minister’s House, with invitations already extended to the leadership of all three companies that participated in and acquired spectrum through the auction process. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will attend as chief guest, while Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, the PTA chairman, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar, and other senior government officials are also expected to be present at the ceremony.
All three telecom operators have submitted bank guarantees of 15 million United States dollars each to fulfil the regulatory requirements for obtaining their 5G licences, and technical preparations for the commercial launch of services have already been finalised. Immediately following the formal issuance of licences, the operators will begin deploying 5G services in Islamabad and other major cities across the country. The rollout will commence in a phased manner, with the first phase covering selected areas within large urban centres before the network is gradually expanded to additional parts of the country over time. Under the conditions attached to the licences, each company will be required to install 1,000 new telecom sites as part of their network expansion obligations, with a minimum of 200 of those sites mandated to be located in remote and low-coverage areas, ensuring that the benefits of next-generation connectivity are not confined exclusively to urban populations.
PTA recently concluded the 5G spectrum auction, during which 480 megahertz out of a total of 597 megahertz available was sold to the participating operators. The auction is expected to generate approximately 510 million United States dollars in revenue for the government, providing a significant fiscal contribution while simultaneously laying the technical groundwork for a new era of mobile connectivity in Pakistan. The confirmation of an Eid al-Fitr launch timeline, backed by completed bank guarantees, finalised technical preparations, and a high-profile ceremony at the Prime Minister’s House, signals that Pakistan’s transition to fifth-generation mobile networks is now firmly on the cusp of becoming an operational reality rather than a future aspiration.
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