3G / 4G Subscribers in Pakistan Reach 15.75 Million, Growth Rate Plunges

3G/4G subscriptions in Pakistan reached 15.75 million with the growth rate plunging in recent months mainly due to new taxes on internet services and comparatively sluggish 3G network expansion plans from telcos.

During August 2015, mobile phone companies added a total of 1.15 million 3G/4G users with Zong and Telenor topping the charts.

Growth rate of 3G/4G subscribers, however, dipped seemingly due to new taxes on internet services by Punjab province that has more than 60% share of all mobile phone subscriptions. Punjab Government, that had announced to reverse the taxes on internet, is still charging taxes on internet as promises for reversal of internet taxes are yet not materialized.

3G and 4G services that picked up amazingly during 2014 saw a downward trend during 2015 earlier on due to SIM re-verification drive — when telcos stopped majority of commercial activities and focused entirely on re-verification of their customers base — and then new taxes broke the tempo of new 3G subscriptions.

Experts said that mobile phone companies aren’t in very good shape after imposition of new taxes. Additionally, ARPU levels are dropping for telcos and hence they have halted or at least slowed down their network expansion plans.

More details about 3G/4G subscribers are presented in below graphics:

3G_Subscribers

3G_Subscribers_Aug

3G_Subscribers_Aug_1

4g_LTE

 

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • WTF in AUg only Telenor added Appx. 4 lac subscribers … baqi companies jhag mar rahi hai specially @ mobilink.

    • Mobilink network expand karay to phir hai na. Pooray city myn ek tower ko update kar k keh dete hyn Yeh city b 3G kar diya. Customers Ghanta Add honay hyn

    • Telenor is slowest of all as well.. they are adding alot of subscribers with only 5MHZ spectrum :)

      • Well, Telenor is much better than Ufone and Mobilink in terms of Speed and coverage. I am getting almost 9 Mbps (download) and 1.7 Mbps (upload) speeds at Telenor.

      • Fake buddy .These are just fake .Telenor is worst of all .I ve seen many peoples porting from it but i dont know how they adding these customers.just rubbish.A 2G user when starts 3G usage they just add him as new customer.this is the way they making huge fake figures.If these r right figures they why ARPUS are low

  • it depends on ur handset too… i use to get around 10mbps easily from mobilink on my huawei p7

  • Zong is providing almost 50mbps on LTE, but I am sure more Ishaq Dar continues to be our finance minister, more destruction he will cause in every single department.

  • Telenor is comparitively better than mobilink and ufone in terms of tarrif & speed but it is over loaded too and day time performance is worst in many areas but when working .it is superb…

  • Guyz.. difference is of location.. in my area sukkur sindh mobilink is the father of all internet providers.. including ptcl

  • I get 3 to 3MB/s on my Warid LTE. That combined with the Islamabad/Rawalpindi offer of 5GB per month for just Rs. 100 makes Warid pretty much unbeatable in this area.

    • What about their voice quality? Frequent call drops and voice distortion is part of daily routine now a days. Experts were right, Warid is really compromising over basic voice/telephony services. Moreover, due to narrow spectrum they will further suffer to provide stable yet quality internet.

      • I have not faced any degradation in voice at all in Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Warid barely has any LTE customers.

  • Mobilink is providing the best speed in our area <3
    Telenor and Ufone are providing the worst here.
    Zong k coverage nahe pohanche abi.

  • All cellular companies have performed well especially Telenor and Zong.There will be another sharp rise in number of customers using 3G/4G.


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