Usage of 4G Phones and Data Increased in FY23

Pakistan has achieved 54.1 percent broadband penetration over the past 8 years.

According to a document available with ProPakistani, out of the total, 52.8 percent constitutes mobile broadband and 1.3 percent fixed broadband penetration.

The document added that with the expansion of broadband penetration usage of smartphones increased. Usage of 4G phones increased from 32 percent in 2019 to 53 percent in 2023.

The usage of 3G decreased from 13 percent in 2019 to 3 percent in 2023 whereas the usage of 2G decreased from 56 percent to 44 percent in the last 5 years.

Increased penetration of broadband services has resulted in an increase in data usage over the past few years. In FY22, mobile data usage of 8,970 petabytes was reported, indicating a 31 percent increase from the previous year. Based on the figures from the last few months of the current financial year, it is expected that mobile data usage will reach 10,633 petabytes during FY23.

During FY21, the data usage was 6,855 petabytes whereas in FY20 data usage was 4,510 petabytes. During FY19, the data usage was 2,493 and in FY17 data usage was 1,262 petabytes.

According to the document, during FY22, mobile subscriptions registered a healthy annual growth of 6 percent. The cellular mobile segment was the main contributor toward overall growth in subscribers and tele density.

At the end of March 2023, the total telecom subscriptions (mobile and fixed) were 197 million and total teledensity in the country reached 83.2 percent.

Due to the economic slowdown a slight decline in cellular mobile subscribers and teledensity has been witnessed during July-March FY23.