Telecom sector in the limelight

Govt pinning investment hopes ahead of spectrum auction, says report.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s telecom sector is in the limelight because of the upcoming spectrum auction for next-generation mobile internet services, Topline Securities said in a report on Thursday.

The new government – which has put in efforts to curb grey telephony – is seriously relying on the telecom sector to generate investment activities in the country, the report said.

As part of their preparation for the spectrum auction, the report said, cellular companies are investing in their network infrastructure – the telecom sector attracted total investment of $451.4 million during FY13, an increase of 88% compared with $240.3 million invested by telecom sector in FY12.



The spectrum auction will introduce advance mobile technologies, 3G and beyond, in the country and help telecom operators increase their average revenue per user (ARPU) – Pakistan’s telecom sector saw its ARPU decline slightly to Rs211 in FY13 from Rs217 per month in FY12 mainly due to high competition and addition of low income users to the industry’s net subscriber base, according to data from the report.

However, the report said, despite a slight decline in ARPU, revenue of the telecom sector grew by seven to reach an all-time high of Rs440 billion in FY13.

The teledensity of Pakistan has reached 75.2% in FY13 compared to 71.7% in FY12. Cellular segment remained the major contributor by covering 71.7% of the population, the report said, adding cellular subscribers have attained a level of 128 million in FY13 compared with 120 million in FY12 – an increase of 6.7%.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st,  2014.

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