Total share of telecom sector in the GDP is likely to touch 3 percent in the next three to five years. The share of telecom sector in GDP has increased from 1.5 percent in 1999-00 to 1.9 percent in 2004-05. The tele-density in the country has jumped to 13.7 from 6.3 percent a year earlier and has broken the record in single year growth of 105 percent.
The present teledensity is 3 percent higher than India where the telecom market opened much earlier than Pakistan. According to available documents, the share of revenues of telecom sector reached Rs 161.4 billion in 2005 as compared with Rs 129.4 billion a year earlier.
During the same year, (2004-05), the telecom sector remained one of the major contributors to government revenues and an amount of Rs 20.5 billion was collected as GST/CED. Besides, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) deposited Rs 17.7 billion in the national exchequer as Initial Licence Fees and Annual Licence Fees in 2004-05.
Similarly, total investment made in the telecom sector after liberalisation is estimated at $1.02 billion in 2004-05.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) attracted by the telecom sector in 2004-05 reached $494.4 million, which is highest among all economic groups.
The telecom sector also opened 436,213 employment opportunities during the year.
The Gross Value Addition (GVA) made by the telecom sector in overall GDP of the country reached 115 billion or close to 2 percent of GDP while telecom share in GDP reached 1.9 percent.
With two new players joining mobile cellular sector of Pakistan, mobile subscribers reached over 15 million, whereby total mobile penetration touched over 10 percent during the year.
The mobile sector thus grew by 181.6 percent in one year, which is the highest ever annual growth in the history of Pakistan''s mobile sector. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of mobile sector decreased by 30 percent and stood at $6 per month till June this year.
The new telecom segment of LDI which was liberalised a year before and 12 companies were awarded licences, performed unexpectedly well during the year (2004-05). Ten LDI companies are operational throughout the country.
However, their focus remained on international incoming traffic. Major LDI operators shifted their calling business on their own networks and reducing tariffs of international calls. All companies remained busy in rolling out their networks.
On the other hand, the Local Loop (LL) segment, which was being liberalised with the telecom deregulation, did not show much progress during the year. Out of 34 companies only 3 companies could start their operations.