Mobile penetration increases, total mobile subscribers reached at 100 million

ISLAMABAD – Mobile penetration in Pakistan had been increasing at a very high pace and mobile sector recorded total revenue of Rs 236.74 billion at the end of FY 2009-10,showing a growth of 11% over the previous year.
According to Information Economy Report, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Pakistan is among the five dynamic economies of developing Asia in terms of increased penetration of mobile phones. While compared with the regional mobile penetration,Pakistan is far better than many of Asian countries.
According to official sources in Pakistan Telecom Authority(PTA), the mobile operators have been aggressively working on increasing their networks especially to un-served areas, while disturbance in Khyber PakhtoonKhawa and Balochistan is hampering the progress of mobile communication.
Like number of other emerging markets, Pakistan mobile sector also constitutes mainly of prepaid subscription.
Since the economic situation is not very salutary, due to increased inflation and higher cost of living,individuals have reduced their spending on communication needs.
Therefore,suitable options to stay connected still rests with easy loads and scratch cards. With over 97% prepaid subscription in the mobile market, the post paid subscription in Pakistan is insignificant(3%).
According to official data available,total mobile subscribers reached at 100 million at the end of July 2010. During the FY 2009-10, cellular mobile subscriber showed a growth of 5.1% as compared to 2009-09 when the total subscribers stood at 94.3 million and growth was over 7%.
Pakistan telecom sector has survived the tough times and the falling telecom indicators have stabilized with timely and prudent strategies adapted by the government.
Service disruptions due to jammers and physical damages to the mobile networks in the troubled areas have taken away the communication necessity from the population of those areas.
There is a huge unmet and pending demand of mobile services from the disconnected troubled areas of the country and the telecom companies must take up steps to come up to the expectations of their subscribers across the country.