The federal government has acknowledged that mobile phone operators increased the prices of their monthly packages by up to 50% during the current financial year, the Senate was informed on Monday.
The minister attributed the price hikes to multiple economic pressures faced by the telecom sector. She said fuel prices surged by 158 percent between March 2021 and May 2024, inflation rose by 77 percent, and the Pakistani rupee depreciated by 44 percent against the US dollar. She also pointed out that the policy rate increased by 214 percent, significantly raising financing costs for telecom operators.
The disclosure came in a written reply by Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja to a question raised by Senator Rana Mahmood Ul Hassan.
In her response, the minister rejected claims that any monthly package price had increased from Rs. 600 to Rs. 1500. She said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) found no such case. However, she confirmed that mobile operators gradually raised prices of their monthly packages in the range of 20 percent to 50 percent. This included increases from Rs. 999 to Rs. 1499 and from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 1799 during FY 2024–25.
Shaza Fatima Khawaja further informed the Senate that despite these rising costs, the average annual revenue growth of the mobile industry over the last five years remained at only 9 percent. This was compared to an average annual inflation rate of 17 percent between 2020 and 2024. She said this imbalance resulted in value erosion across the mobile telecom industry.
Responding to a question on regulatory approvals, the minister said that under the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996, and Mobile Tariff Regulations, 2025, operators declared as having Significant Market Power (SMP) must obtain prior approval from PTA before revising tariffs.
She confirmed that Jazz has been declared an SMP operator in the retail mobile telecom market and that its tariffs are approved by the Authority. She added that PTA retains the power to intervene if tariffs by other operators adversely affect consumer interests.