Number of mobile phone users rises to 7m: report

According to the newspaper DAWN, Pakistan's mobile phone subscribers base increased 207,425 in a one month period, with the total number of end users increasing from 6.8 million in October 2004 to 7 million in November 2004. These figures indicate significant growth in the cellular mobile sector; the number of subscribers was 2.4 million at the end of 2003.

During 2004, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued 91 licenses of Fixed Local Loop (FLL), 70 Wireless Local Loop, and 12 Long Distance International (LDI) after deregulation of the telecommunication sector. A PTA report showed that the mobile sector exhibited a growth of 173% in 2003-04, while the PTA earned Rs1.7 billion as an initial license fee from FLL and LDI licenses.

Despite the increased quantity of subscribers, this article indicates that quality of service has not kept pace. During 2003-04, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) conducted surveys in different cities to check quality of service of mobile phone companies, finding their performance to be sub-par (e.g., congestion, echo, noise in the service, charging for unsuccessful calls and for balance enquiry). Service quality of the top three companies is still below the license standards.