ISLAMABAD: Despite having a vision of Digital Pakistan, the GSMA says Pakistan is falling behind in the region and cautions that investors may walk away if urgent reforms are not taken.
Talking to journalists after the GSMA Digital Nation Summit – 2025, Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA, highlighted that the telecom sector in Pakistan suffered from high taxes, low spectrum and a lack of long-term policies.
Earlier, addressing the ‘GSMA Digital Nation Summit’, Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani dwelt on the achievements of the government, the Digital Pakistan initiative, including undertaking reforms in the FBR with the usage of AI, enhancing a cashless economy and increasing digital public infrastructure.
“The government has set the target to digitalise all government payments within 18 months, and this includes not just issuing cheques but implementing an end-to-end cashless system,” Kayani added.
Julian Gorman said reducing taxation on the telecom sector, despite being in the IMF program, was possible because it was done by some other countries too, including Argentina.
“If urgent reforms are not held, the investors will move away to any country,” he said.
“Similarly, freelancers are an important category in Pakistan, but their profession will finish if they do not have more internet and electricity.” He also added that the demand for the spectrum had increased and recommend that the government reduce this spectrum usage and availability gap.
He also expressed concern that the digitalisation speed in Pakistan was slow.
He also noted that Pakistan should fast-track the satellite-based internet too, as it was beneficial for the overall economy, IT sector and the social life of the country. The report also highlighted that Pakistan was falling behind in 5G rollout across the Asia Pacific region, as the regional countries were accelerating their 5G rollout to power smart cities, digital industries and inclusive growth.
The report highlighted that Pakistan’s 5G rollout had remained stalled — it was not just about faster speeds, 5G was about enabling real-time services, industrial automation and digital inclusion.
The report also highlighted that smartphones had a combined customs duties and taxes of up to 40 percent, while mobile broadband services face multiple layers of taxation.
The GSMA report emphasized the importance of aligning fiscal policy with Pakistan’s digital-development goals. The report also highlighted that Pakistan was falling behind in 5G rollout across the Asia Pacific region, as the regional countries were accelerating their 5G rollout to power smart cities, digital industries and inclusive growth.
Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Maj. Gen. (Retd) Hafeez ur Rehman stated that the road to ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative was bumpy and difficult. Referring to the high charges by different government departments for laying the fiber optic cable, he said the government had recently decided that all such ‘Right of Way’ charges will be abolished.
