Islamabad: Data available from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has revealed a massive dip in mobile phone subscribers was reported for July 2017.
Only 24,000 users were added during July 2017, as three out of four cellular operators recorded a decrease in subscribers.
For the financial year 2016-17, a monthly addition of 0.5 million new connections had been recorded alongside 1.5 million a month for FY 2015-16.
As per PTA spokesman, Khurram Ali Mehran said the reported fall in subscribers “may be a result of the condition whereby a SIM (connection) will automatically become deactivated if it is not used for 90 consecutive days.”
An industry insider claimed that subscriber base had now reached its saturation point.
According to ICT sector expert Parvez Iftikhar, telecom operators weren’t making sufficient investment in rural and semi-urban areas to increase their outreach.
Iftikhar added that growth in urban areas may have become stagnant, but there was potential for growth in rural and semi-urban areas where the telecom operators reach remains limited.
On the contrary, user adoption of 4G mobile internet services outstripped 3G during July 2017 with a reported 510,415 individuals getting 4G connections and 403,778 getting 3G connections.
