Pakistan now has about 1.8 million 5G users across 24 cities, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja told parliament on Tuesday, giving the first official user count since the country's 5G rollout began earlier this year. But the figures, shared with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication, were met with sharp questions from lawmakers who said coverage remains patchy and everyday mobile service is getting worse, not better.
Khawaja told the committee that the government had conducted a 5G spectrum auction to introduce the technology in Pakistan, noting that no spectrum auction had taken place after the government led by Nawaz Sharif left office. That government, she said, had introduced 4G services, while the current government moved forward with the 5G auction. She added that social media and artificial intelligence had sharply increased data consumption across the country, and that steps were being taken to improve telecom services.
Lawmakers point to gaps outside the big cities
Committee members pushed back on the headline numbers, arguing that the rollout has been uneven. The committee chairman, Syed Amin ul Haq, pointed out that Sukkur has only two 5G sites despite its size, while another member said the rollout in Sindh had mainly focused on Karachi. One member said mobile internet services had deteriorated since 5G was introduced, and another said even basic network services were unavailable in parts of Sindh.
The criticism went beyond 5G. One committee member said networks were not functioning from his constituency to Karachi, and another noted that WhatsApp calls drop even in Islamabad — raising the question of what users in rural areas face if service fails in the capital. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Hafeezur Rehman told the committee he had conducted inspection tours across 41 districts, and the minister acknowledged the members' frustration as valid, saying services were gradually improving. Theft was also cited as a cause of disruption, with entire towers, diesel supplies and generators reported stolen.
A rollout still in its early phase
The user count lands about seven months after commercial 5G service began. Operators signed their licences on March 19, 2026, and commercial deployment started the next day under a four-phase plan approved by the federal government. Figures shared in October put the network at 1,782 deployed sites across the same 24 cities, with Jazz accounting for 1,015 sites, Zong 640 and Ufone 127. Karachi led with 385 sites, followed by Lahore with 373 and Islamabad with 276.
Affordability remains a barrier to wider adoption. The cheapest locally available 5G-compatible handset costs around Rs36,000, according to figures shared by the minister, although 607,093 5G-capable handsets were locally assembled between January and August 2026. The Universal Service Fund is working to improve connectivity in underserved areas, officials told the committee.
What happens next
Chairman Haq closed the session with a firm directive, telling officials and operators there should be no compromise on quality of service and ordering telecom companies to improve their services immediately. The committee also discussed the Pakistan Digital Authority Amendment Bill, but the quality-of-service question dominated the session.
The same meeting underlined why the network is under strain: the PTA chairman told the committee that 96 million Pakistanis use YouTube, watching 560 million videos a day, while TikTok has 100 million users in the country. For now, the official picture is a 5G network that exists in two dozen cities and serves nearly two million people — and a parliament that wants to know when the rest of the country, and its existing 4G service, will catch up.
