ISLAMABAD, May 29: The number of mobile phone users in Pakistan has increased phenomenally and this figure is expanding by almost one million every month.

The tele-density in the country has increased to 58 per cent of the population, which is the highest in South Asia with the total number of fixed and mobile subscribers touching 85 million in 2008 against only 8 million in 2003 with major contribution coming from the mobile sector.

This information was provided to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani by a delegation of the GSM Association and CEOs of mobile phone companies in Pakistan headed by Robert Conway, which called on him at the PM House on Thursday.

He was told that Pakistan continued to be one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world where only last year the mobile industry invested close to $3 billion of total foreign direct investment coming into the country.

The delegation assured the prime minister that the mobile industry would continue to work with the government for swift provision of state-of-the- art information and communication services in Pakistan with a heightened focus on empowering rural communities.

The delegation informed the prime minister that Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA) is a global trade association founded in 1987 and represent more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 territories and countries the world over.

He was further briefed that more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the association’s initiatives as associate members.