Federal Cabinet today approved the issuance of Policy Directive to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) under Section 8 of the PTA (Re-Organization) Act, 1996 to enable testing of 5G technology in Pakistan while remaining within the regulatory environment.
Decision was taken in a meeting that held today under the headship of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad.
After this approval, PTA is going to make a framework and allow Pakistani operators to test 5G in Pakistan before its commercially auctioned in the country.
It must be noted that operators must not commercially charge for 5G services during the tests. It is yet to be ascertained that how and when PTA will allocate the spectrum to various operators for the testing purposes.
Anusha Rehman, Minister for IT and Telecom, has already indicated that Pakistan will be auctioning 5G spectrum in 2021.
Zong has said in the past that it will test 5G technology in Pakistan, if it is allowed to do so.
It must be noted that 5G as a network technology is still evolving and internationally recognized standards are yet to be determined. Meanwhile, various lab and field tests are being conducted by network and cellular companies to prepare themselves for the the launch of 5G technology when its ready.
