The government’s ambitious plan to launch 5G services by April 2025 is at risk of further delays due to unresolved issues surrounding the acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and ongoing litigation over critical spectrum allocation.
According to a report by a national daily, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has yet to make a decision on the Telenor-PTCL merger, a key factor in determining the future of Pakistan’s telecom landscape. The unresolved status of this acquisition, coupled with legal disputes over the required spectrum, is impeding progress on the country’s 5G rollout.
National Economic Research Associates Inc. (NERA), a consultancy firm hired by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in November 2024 to provide recommendations for the release of IMT spectrum, has raised concerns over the delays. NERA has urged authorities to finalize the number of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) in the market, including decisions related to the Telenor-PTCL merger, to ensure smooth progress toward 5G implementation.
A critical hurdle in the 5G rollout is the ongoing litigation over 140 MHz of the 2.6 GHz band, which is essential for both 4G and 5G services. Currently, only 54 MHz of this spectrum is available, which experts say is insufficient for even a single operator to provide 5G services effectively.
The unresolved spectrum dispute, combined with the CCP’s indecision on the Telenor-PTCL merger, has delayed NERA’s ability to finalize its recommendations. Without these recommendations, the PTA cannot proceed with the next steps in the 5G spectrum auction process.
Even after the CCP makes its decision on the merger, the case will require approvals from other regulatory bodies, including the PTA, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). Following these approvals, additional steps such as cabinet approval, publishing auction guidelines, and operator preparations could take several more months, further pushing back the timeline for 5G deployment.
The government had initially targeted 5G spectrum auctions by March 2023 under previous administrations. However, the current challenges have already delayed the process significantly, and the first 5G rollout, originally planned for April 2025, now appears increasingly unlikely to meet this deadline.
