- Internet speed in Pakistan not up to global standards: IT minister.
- It says efforts are being made to complete the auction in the first week of February 2026.
- Pakistan ranked 97th and 146th in mobile and broadband speed.
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee has approved the auction of 600 MHz spectrum that would not only improve internet speed but also pave the way for the rollout of 5G internet in the country, Information Technology and Telecom (IT) Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said on Tuesday.
Addressing a joint press conference with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the IT minister said the federal government was considering completing the internet spectrum auction by early 2026 after the nod from the ECC.
Elaborating on the matter, IT Minister Khawaja said the recommendations of the spectrum advisory committee will be taken to the cabinet soon and consultation with other relevant parties, including the telecom sector, will be ensured during the process.
“Due to lack of spectrum, internet speed in Pakistan is not up to global standards,” the minister said, adding that the government is going to hold an auction for 600 MHz spectrum.
Shaza further said that efforts were on to roll out 5G within six months.
Highlighting that the Internet forms the basis of the entire digital system, he said the government will increase both the speed and access to the Internet and efforts are being made to complete the auction in the first week of February 2026.
The announcement of the spectrum auction comes at a time when low Internet speeds, along with intermittent outages and restricted access on several occasions, are not uncommon for Internet users in the country.
According to the Ookla Speedtest global index, Pakistan was ranked 97th globally regarding mobile internet speed, which was measured at 24.79 Mbps in November. The statistics were much worse for fixed broadband speed, where the country ranked 146th with a download speed of just 18.27Mbps.
However, last month, the country significantly expanded its international Internet capacity with the launch of the Southeast Asia, Middle East and Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) submarine cable system 6.
The 19,200 kilometer high-capacity fiber network connects the country to major digital hubs between Singapore and France.
The system, which offers more than 100 terabits per second (Tbps) of total capacity, provides one of the lowest latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.
Under the deployment, Pakistan was allocated 13.2 Tbps, of which 4 Tbps was activated immediately, a major boost that will support cloud computing, data centers, fintech, e-commerce, streaming platforms and the overall digital economy.
The new SEA-ME-WE 6 network features more fiber pairs and more than double the capacity of previous SEA-ME-WE systems, ensuring greater resilience on high-traffic routes between Asia and Europe.
