ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s telecom sector recorded 16% year-on-year (YoY) decline in revenues in the fiscal year 2024-25, as operators grappled with rising operational costs, heavy taxation, and deteriorating consumer purchasing power.
The decline in revenue comes at a time when Pakistan urgently needs digital infrastructure upgrades, spectrum refarming, and network modernisation to keep up with regional benchmarks.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) latest data shared by Director General Licensing, Brig Amer Shahzad (retired) on Thursday revealed that telecom revenues plunged from Rs955 billion in FY24 to Rs803 billion in FY25, a decline of Rs152 billion or 16%.
Telecom subscribers surpass 200 million in Pakistan
The drop comes at a time when data consumption has surged to an unprecedented 27,897 petabytes (PB), and broadband subscribers have soared to 150 million.
Industry officials and analysts attributed the decline to rising operational costs, heavy taxation, and deteriorating consumer purchasing power.
The telecom sector is facing a troubling paradox: booming usage, expanding networks, and shrinking money.
Despite increases across nearly every performance indicator, the industry has posted a sharp revenue decline, exposing deep structural weaknesses and raising alarms about long-term sustainability.
Industry experts say the numbers paint a grim picture: operators are moving more traffic than ever before but earning less per user, squeezed by rising costs, inflation, and price wars that have turned growth into a losing game.
Telecom contribution to the national exchequer increased to Rs271 billion in FY25, from Rs195.1 billion in FY24, said DG PTA.
Yet subscriber counts and infrastructure continue to expand almost mechanically. Total telecom users climbed to 200.02 million, broadband penetration hit 60.8%, and cell sites increased to 58,423 – all indicators of a sector growing in size but deteriorating in financial health.
Analysts warn that if revenues continue to collapse despite rising demand, Pakistan’s telecom industry could enter a dangerous cycle of underinvestment, compromised service quality, and stalled digital progress – a scenario that would hurt consumers and the broader economy alike.
According to sectoral insights shared during a PTA-led briefing, telecom operators have reported a drop in overall revenue growth, driven largely by reduced voice and ARPUs (Average Revenue Per User), high inflation, and a surge in dollar-linked expenses including spectrum fees, equipment imports, and network expansion.
Telecom companies warn that the industry’s financial viability is weakening as operational costs outpace revenue generation, leaving limited fiscal space for investment in network capacity, quality improvement, and 5G preparations.
Industry insiders say that mobile ARPU – historically one of the lowest in the region – has further slid due to subscriber spending compression and aggressive price competition. High taxes on SIMs, usage and recharge, combined with an advance income tax that has not yet been reversed, are also dragging revenues down.
Stakeholders urged the government to introduce a sector-wide fiscal relief package, rationalise taxes, and adopt a long-term digital policy framework to arrest declining revenues and protect Pakistan’s telecom backbone from further erosion.
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