Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has issued a commencement letter to Ufone, granting the operator regulatory clearance to proceed with the commercial launch of its 5G services and positioning it to become the country’s third telecom operator to enter the next-generation mobile market. The issuance of the commencement letter marks the completion of a mandatory regulatory milestone that follows a structured inspection and testing process, and Ufone is expected to announce the formal rollout of its 5G service within the coming days.
Under the standard regulatory framework governing 5G licence holders in Pakistan, any operator that secures a spectrum allocation must first conduct testing across selected or random network sites before PTA inspectors visit those sites to verify that they meet the required technical and service quality standards. Only once the regulator is satisfied with the results of that inspection process does it issue the commencement letter that permits the operator to move to commercial launch. Pakistan’s 5G spectrum auction was held on March 10, 2026, when PTA completed the allocation stage of the Next Generation Mobile Services auction, selling a total of 480 megahertz of spectrum across the three operators. Jazz secured 190 megahertz, Ufone obtained 180 megahertz, and Zong was allocated 110 megahertz. The assignment stage was completed on March 14, 2026, clearing the way for network planning and commercial rollout.
Jazz and Zong moved with notable speed following the auction, with both operators applying for their commencement letters on the same day they secured their licences and receiving them the same day, before announcing the launch of their 5G services on March 19, 2026, marking Pakistan’s first commercial 5G deployments. Jazz’s initial rollout was reported to cover around 180 sites spanning Islamabad, provincial capitals, and major urban centres, while Zong announced its commercial 5G service was being introduced across more than 16 cities. With Ufone now in receipt of its own commencement letter, Pakistan’s 5G market is set to expand further as the third operator prepares its commercial rollout, bringing the country to a point where all three of its major mobile network operators will be offering next-generation connectivity to subscribers for the first time in the nation’s telecommunications history.
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