Experts at a public-private dialogue on the potential and challenges of Pakistan’s IT and Telecommunication sectors called for strategic collaborations among stakeholders, including government, regulators, and market players. They emphasized the need to streamline spectrum and licensing mechanisms to eliminate bottlenecks hindering sector growth.
Organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), the dialogue highlighted the telecom sector’s pivotal role in Pakistan’s economy, supporting sectors like education, health, industry, defense, and agriculture. Participants stressed the importance of fostering a robust and competitive environment through effective regulations and collaborative efforts among service providers.
Brig (R) Muhammad Yasin, Senior Advisor Emeritus at SDPI, underscored the benefits of infrastructure sharing among telecom operators to reduce costs and enhance service delivery, especially in rural areas. He lamented the lack of collaboration among competitors, which has led to reduced internet service providers and compromised network quality.
Arif Sargana, Director General of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), acknowledged the sector’s competitive challenges and highlighted PTA’s role in maintaining fair competition. He supported maintaining competition without pegging spectrum with the US Dollar due to currency volatility, aiming to attract sustainable investments.
Ahmed Qadir, Director General of Competition Policy at the Competition Commission of Pakistan, emphasized the need for balanced regulatory frameworks to foster healthy competition. He noted the telecom sector’s rapid evolution under PTA’s dynamic regulation, but also highlighted challenges posed by intense competition and regulatory burdens.
Muhammad Aslam Hayat, Senior Policy Fellow at LIRNEasia, identified structural, regulatory, and licensing bottlenecks hindering telecom service rollout. He advocated for reforms such as unified licensing, rationalized spectrum pricing, and reduced tax burdens to improve service quality and sector sustainability.
Fatima from Jazz underscored the telecom sector’s role as an economic backbone and called for industry-wide collaboration to address challenges and embrace digitalization for future growth.
Parvez Iftikhar, an International ICT Consultant, highlighted the telecom sector’s intense competition benefiting consumers but posing challenges like declining revenues and inadequate infrastructure investment. Moreover, he suggested regulatory reforms and strategic initiatives to enhance digital infrastructure development and improve service quality.
Ameena Sohail, Former Member Legal at MoITT, emphasized the need for targeted dialogues to address systematic and regulatory issues in the telecom sector, promoting healthy competition and sectoral improvement.
