The perception that smart phone penetration has decreased is incorrect
KARACHI: Apropos an article in these columns titled ‘Digital Pakistan — Navigating the Rough Waters’, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) would like to state that the assertions made in the article regarding smart phone imports dropping to 5 million in 2019 are not correct. It is regretted that the writer has not sought the official opinion of the PTA to verify the figures quoted in the article. The import of smart phones in 2018 was 7.24 million sets whereas this year it stands at 7.64 million as of November 30, 2019. Apart from smart phones, other devices having 3G and 4G technology, such as IoT, Dongles, Tablets, etc imported in 2018 were 4.82 million, whereas in the 11 months of 2019 till November, 7.11 million devices have so far been imported. Furthermore, the number of 4G devices connected to mobile operator’s network has increased from 18% in January 2018 to 31% as of Nov 2019. Whereas the number of 3G devices connected to their network has decreased from 19% in January 2018 to 13% as of Nov 2019. This reflects that users are preferring to utilise 4G-based devices over 3G.The mobile broad band (BB) penetration has also increased from 51.8 million subscribers in Jan 2018 to 76.4 million in Nov 2019 showing an increase of 24.6 million (47.49%), which can only be possible due to the increased usage of smart phones. Thus the perception that smart phone penetration has decreased is incorrect and doesn’t correlate with the figures of Broad Band penetration. It is also important to mention that entry level 4G smart phones are being sold in Pakistan from Rs6,450 to Rs11,000.
Zaibunnisa
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2019.
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