The number of mobile phone users in the country has crossed 90 million.

Mobilink: 31,359,049
Ufone: 18,801,402
Telenor: 18,472,445
Warid: 16,157,778
Zong: 5,092,476
Total: 90,204,284

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), an increase of 29 per cent was recorded in mobile phone subscription during the month of September in comparison with the same period in the previous year whereas it increased by 0.7 per cent against August.

20pc mobile users change handset thrice a year in Pakistan

Pakistan is a lucrative market for manufacturers of mobile handsets and other telecom equipment as 20 percent of mobile users in Pakistan change their handset thrice a year. A similar percentage of mobile users change the mobile handset once a year and this could be a successful business model, said a regulator Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its latest report-2007. A survey conducted by the Authority this year also found that 20 percent user change the mobile handset every two years. The report said the strategic location of Pakistan, which has spent about $1.347 billion on import of cellular mobile handsets, and other telecom apparatus in 2006-07 is also an added advantage. The potential investors can also target other emerging and developing economies in the region by exporting handsets or equipment from Pakistan to provide better economies of scale, it said and added the potential investors may also explore public private partnership in such adventures. The report said the spending of $1.347 billion on import of cellular mobile handsets and other telecom apparatus in 2006-07 puts burden on country’s foreign reserves and increases trade gap. During the period, about 4.2 percent of imports were for the telecom sector while this ratio was only 2.4 percent in 2003-2004. The report said the imports of cellular mobile sets with battery shot up from $144.1 million in 2003-04 to $670.2 million in 2006-07 while other telecom apparatus imported into the country went up to $ 677.5 million in 2006-07 as compared to $234.8 million in 2003-04. It said the exponential growth in the telecom sector is burdening the overall imports where sector requires spending of about $1 billion just on the import of cellular mobile hand sets annually, the report said during the last four years cellular mobile handsets worth $1.7 billion have been imported. According to the report, the government was considering giving incentives to leading manufacturers of cellular mobile handsets and telecom equipment to consider manufacturing mobile sets and other equipment locally where more than two to three million subscribers were being added on cellular mobile networks every month and still a large patentable exists.