Pakistan's digital build-out now includes its biggest-ever spectrum sale, a 5G rollout and a fibre network that runs across the country, IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja spoke on Tuesday. Speaking on a panel at a summit in Seoul, she said the government treats artificial intelligence first as a networks problem. The remarks were framed within the Digital Nation Pakistan agenda launched by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Spectrum, 5G and fibre
Spectrum is the range of radio frequencies that mobile operators use to carry calls and data. Khawaja said operators bought 480 MHz, a unit of radio bandwidth, for $509 million in March 2026, and that the combined holdings of telecom companies grew from 274 to 754 MHz as a result. Within six months, 5G went live across more than 1,700 sites in 24 major cities, with a mean speed of 130 Mbps (megabits per second, a common measure of data speed).
Khawaja said download speeds had climbed 68.1% across two years, and that fibre cable stretching over 234,000 km had been laid nationwide. To cut costs and speed up that work, the government scrapped right-of-way charges, which are fees for digging along roads and public land. Pakistan is linked to the global internet through six undersea cables with total capacity above 17 terabits per second, she added. She also described the CAREC Digital Corridor, a regional link meant to connect Central Asia with the rest of the world. CAREC is a regional cooperation framework that brings together Central Asian countries and their neighbours.
Reaching remote areas and users
Khawaja said regulators were still working out satellite rules and licences that would let phones connect directly to satellites, a model known as direct-to-device. She stressed that satellite links would supplement ground-based networks rather than replace them. New rules for mobile virtual network operators, which sell service over another company's network, and for shared infrastructure have also been introduced to draw investment.
On inclusion, the minister said the Universal Service Fund, a government pool used to extend access, has linked 22,100 localities in more than 110 districts and reached more than 38 million residents. Local assembly produced 17.6 million handsets in 2025, and she referred to instalment plans for phones now being rolled out. Citing World Bank reports, she said the gap between men and women in mobile access has shrunk from 25% to 8%. She also said Pakistan had climbed 27 places on the ICT Development Index, a ranking run by the International Telecommunication Union.
Khawaja called universal connectivity an unfinished promise and urged investors and other stakeholders to share risk, so that connectivity can underpin AI-led growth. She placed the push within the Digital Nation Pakistan programme. The figures are the minister's own, and Zaviya has not independently verified them. Work on satellite licensing is still under way.
Aasan alfaaz mein
IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja ke mutabiq Pakistan ne spectrum auction, 24 bade shehron mein 5G aur 234,000 km se zyada fibre cable ke zariye apna digital infrastructure barhaya hai. Yeh baatein unhon ne Seoul ke summit mein kahi. Aam logon ke liye iska matlab behtar mobile internet aur door-daraz ilaqon tak rabta ho sakta hai. Satellite services par kaam abhi jari hai.
