3G and 4G subscribers touch 12 million mark before first birthday

It’s been approximately a year when Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) were landed in Pakistan with the successful auction in April 2014, and since then, the number of subscribers using this technology are increasing day by day in Pakistan. According to the most recent statistics revealed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the 3G and 4G subscribers have touched a landmark of 12.07 million by March 2015. 3G and 4G More precisely, the number of 4G connections in the country are near to 97,722 while 3G is becoming ubiquitous with 11.97 million subscribers. Following graph illustrates the growth in the number of 3G subscribers since the auction till now: 3G Source: PTA It is important to note here that within a year, the penetration of 3G and 4G services in Pakistan gathered nearly 6.63% of the population while our geographical neighbor India who jumped into the 3G saga back in 2010 has only 13% 3G users even after 5 years. It means that the snowball of 3G is more active in Pakistan as compared to India. Though 3G and 4G have seen addition in subscribers, but annual cellular mobile teledensity has been dropped to 72.13% in March 2015 and will be decreasing even more probably with the updated statistics of April 2015, mainly because of the biometric verification drive conducted on the directions of government of Pakistan.