Competition driving fast growth in Pakistan’s telecom industry

The deregulation of Pakistan’s telecom industry is fast gaining momentum with dozens more communications providers and millions of customers entering both the fixed line and mobile markets.

Before the government announced the opening of its fixed line telephone sector to private investors in July last year, the landline penetration rate was just 2.5 percent of Pakistan’s 145 million people.

Now, in the wake of the success of the inaugural auction of fixed line licenses in August, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) estimates the penetration rate will rise to 8.0 percent by 2006. The wave of reforms also included the granting of wireless local loop (WLL) licenses last month aimed at providing services for infrastructure-deficient rural Pakistan, which accounts for about 70 percent of the country…