This was stated by government officials and industry observers while talking to Business Recorder.
They said the upcoming spectrum auction is expected to play a significant role in improving mobile network quality and addressing congestion issues.
The auction will be technology-neutral, allowing telecom operators to deploy the spectrum across multiple generations, including 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and future technologies such as 6G.
Officials and analysts say this approach provides operators with flexibility to respond to market demand while strengthening existing services.
Currently, Pakistan operates with approximately 274 MHz of spectrum, which is considered the lowest allocation among regional peers.
In the upcoming auction, the government is expected to offer around 600 MHz of spectrum, a move that could more than double the country’s available airwaves for mobile services.
The upcoming spectrum auction is being widely welcomed as a critical step toward fixing chronic network congestion and improving quality of services across the country, industry experts say.
Industry experts note that limited spectrum availability has been a key factor behind declining quality of service, particularly in high-density urban areas.
Additional spectrum is expected to help reduce network congestion and improve call quality and data speeds.
Concerns related to low 5G handset penetration are not expected to affect the auction process.
Officials revealed that a committee led by Secretary Finance and Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are working to rationalize taxes on mobile handsets before the upcoming budget for 2026-27.
Official further revealed that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is engaged with local mobile manufactures to start work on 5G enabled handsets in the country.
The 5G is expected to take around 6 months to rollout especially in major cities and by that time the number of 5G enabled handsets would be increased manifold, they added.
Analysts point to Sri Lanka’s recent spectrum auction, which proceeded despite 5G smartphone penetration being close to one percent, as an example of adopting a forward-looking spectrum policy.
The technology-neutral framework would also allow operators to immediately use newly acquired spectrum to enhance existing 4G and 3G networks, benefiting the majority of mobile users without waiting for large-scale 5G adoption.
The auction is being viewed as an important step for strengthening Pakistan’s telecom infrastructure at a time when mobile data consumption continues to rise steadily.
Improved spectrum availability is also seen as supporting broader digital objectives, including connectivity expansion and economic activity.
Further details regarding pricing, timelines and spectrum bands are expected to be announced by the government in the coming weeks.