Broadband subscriptions increase to 56m

Share of 3G/4G stands at 95% of overall user base

KARACHI: The number of broadband subscriptions in Pakistan has reached 56 million, which is 27.5% of the country's 200 million population, revealed March-end data of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Out of the total broadband users, 53 million belong to the 3G/4G base, which is 26.31% penetration.

The country also gained 149 million cellular subscribers or 73.68% teledensity nationwide.

Annual cellular subscribers reached 149.1 million in March against 147.54 million in the previous month. The data showed Jazz remained the leader with 55.1 million subscribers, followed by Telenor at 42.95 million, Zong at 31.1 million and Ufone with only 19.89 million subscribers.

In the category of Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) subscribers, Jazz once again led the charts with 18.1 million subscribers, followed by Zong with 15.56 million, Telenor with 13.38 million and Ufone with 6.17 million subscribers.

Zong's 3G subscribers jumped to 9.19 million in March from 8.89 million in the previous month. In March it had 6.37 million subscribers against 5.83 million in February, it had 5.07 million in January 2018.

Jazz's 3G subscribers increased to 14.98 million in March from 14.88 million in the previous month. In the 4G category, the cellular company saw its subscriptions increase to 3.16 million subscribers in March from 2.59 million in February.

Telenor 3G subscribers increased even more slowly to 10.93 million in March from 10.88 million in February 2018. The mobile company did relatively better in the 4G category reaching 2.45 million in the month under review. Ufone, which has only 3G services to offer to its customers, had 6.17 million subscribers.

Mobile broadband reached 53.2 million in March from 51.2 million in previous month. Cellular sector earned Rs369 billion, followed by local loop Rs72 billion, LDI Rs19.5 billion, WLL Rs236 million, VAS estimated Rs2.5 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2018.

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