Telecom sector indicators showed positive growth as teledensity improved to 78 percent, revenues reached over Rs 345.5 billion and total investment reached $576 million during July-March 2013-14, revealed the Economic Survey 2013-14. Telecom sector is one of the highest contributors to the national exchequer in form of taxes, with on average Rs 119 billion annual revenue for the last five years. During fiscal year 2013, telecom sector contributed Rs 124 billion to the national exchequer.
According to the survey, with 188 million population and 136 million cellular mobile subscribers, Pakistan's telecom sector provides enormous opportunities to foreign and local investors.
International telecom companies have significant presence in Pakistan and these companies are successfully doing business all over the country. Telecom sector of Pakistan has attracted substantial foreign investment after the deregulation. During the period of July-March 2013-14, over $0.53 billion have been invested in the telecom infrastructure and new technologies. This increase is solely due to an increase of investment by cellular mobile operators during July-March 2013-14. Investment in telecom sector is expected to increase in near future due to left over spectrum auction and network up-gradation.
The country's telecommunication sector continued its growth trend as the overall teledensity reached an all-time high of 78 percent in July-March period of the fiscal year fiscal year 2014, up by three percentage points compared to 75 percent as of June 30, 2013. PTA encourages use of telecom-based solutions and applications for other sectors in the economy, for example, mobile banking, e-education, e-health etc. Productive use of these services can greatly enhance growth of the overall economy. The first 10 months of FY2014 remained significant for the telecom sector that took a giant leap forward in the world of technology by conducting next-generation mobile services (NGMS) license auction that earned the country more than $1 billion, according to the Economic Survey.
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