REALITY appears to be finally sinking in for the state’s policymakers. The ECC decision on Tuesday to approve the auction of over 600MHz of spectrum — the largest such offering in the country’s history — signifies an admission that chronic under-allocation lies at the very heart of Pakistan’s mobile telephony and internet woes. The government plans to distribute additional spectrum within two months followed by its rollout, including 5G services, by mobile operators in five to six months. The finance and IT ministers’ argument for greater spectrum availability to support the country’s digital, financial and economic transformation underscores a shift in policymakers’ thinking. The move is an admission that the mobile networks operating with just 274MHz of spectrum for their entire suite of mobile services — or less than half of what many comparable regional countries use, and well below international standards for a population of 240-250m — are working with one hand tied behind their back. This compares with 600MHz available to the 175m people of Bangladesh, and is the major reason for internet traffic congestion and associated problems in Pakistan. The low spectrum means that we are using two lanes for traffic which requires six or eight lanes for smooth flow.

The planned spectrum rollout is part of the country’s broader vision outlined under the Digital Nation Pakistan Act 2025 and the upcoming Connect 2030 initiative, under which the government would ensure that the internet users get the minimum connectivity of 100Mbps over the next five years. If the promise of a tenfold increase over all previous auctions combined signals scale, the government’s continued reliance on a revenue-driven auction model without considering the financial health of operators, already burdened by taxes and dollar-linked costs, is a recipe for failure. Would mobile operators facing pressure from their customers to improve their services be attracted to buy more spectrum if the price is not right? Every megahertz of the spectrum translating into faster, cheaper and quality internet services is about financial and technological inclusion, and improved lives and livelihoods. In countries like Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Indonesia etc, the spectrum price has been around one-tenth or even lower than the spectrum price set previously in Pakistan. Our policymakers should also look at the larger picture, beyond their one-off, short-term revenue extraction goals if the ultimate policy objective is economic progress.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2025