- Internet speed in Pakistan not up to global standards: IT minister.
- Said efforts are underway to complete the auctions in the first week of February 2026.
- Pakistan ranks 97th and 146th for mobile and broadband speed.
ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee has approved the auction of 600 MHz spectrum which would not only improve internet speed but also pave the way for 5G internet deployment in the country, Information Technology and Telecommunications (IT) Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said on Tuesday.
Speaking to a joint spokesperson with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the IT minister said the federal government plans to complete the internet spectrum auction by early 2026 after the ECC approves it.
Elaborating on this, IT Minister Khawaja said that the recommendations of the spectrum advisory committee will soon be submitted to the cabinet and consultation of other concerned parties, including the telecom sector, will be ensured during the process.
“Due to lack of spectrum, Internet speed in Pakistan is not up to par with global standards,” the minister noted, adding that the government would hold an auction of 600 MHz spectrum.
Shaza further said that efforts are underway to roll out 5G in six months.
Stressing that the Internet forms the basis of the entire digital system, she said the government would increase both speed and access to the Internet and efforts were being made to finalize the auctions in the first week of February 2026.
The announcement of the spectrum auction comes as slow internet, coupled with intermittent outages and restricted access on various occasions, is not uncommon for internet users in the country.
According to the Ookla Speedtest Global Index, Pakistan ranked 97th globally in mobile internet speed, 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 18.27 Mbps.
However, last month the country significantly expanded its international internet capacity with the launch of the Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) 6 submarine cable system.
The 19,200 kilometer high-capacity fiber optic network connects the country to major digital hubs between Singapore and France.
The system, offering a total capacity of more than 100 terabits per second (Tbps), constitutes one of the lowest latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.
As part of this deployment, Pakistan was allocated 13.2 Tbps, of which 4 Tbps was activated immediately – a major increase that will support cloud computing, data centers, financial technology, e-commerce, streaming platforms and the digital economy as a whole.
The new SEA-ME-WE 6 network includes more fiber pairs and more than double the capacity of previous SEA-ME-WE systems, ensuring greater resilience on high-traffic Asia-Europe routes.
