ISLAMABAD: The federal government has admitted in the Senate that the mobile phone companies have raised the prices of their monthly packages by 20 to 50 percent this fiscal year.
Shaza Fatima Khawaja, the federal IT and telecom minister, made the hot topic in the Senate and stressed that the telecom sector’s financial crisis has led it to increase prices as a last resort.
She provided figures that from March 2021 to May 2024, the rise in fuel prices was 158 percent, the rise in the general price level 77 percent, and the depreciation of the local currency against the dollar 44 percent. On top of that, the policy rate was increased by 214 percent, which immensely increased the telecom companies’ cost of borrowing.
The minister rejected the story of a monthly mobile package going up from Rs 600 to Rs 1,500 and said that there has not been any such case reported to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
But she did acknowledge that over time, the prices were raised by 20 to 50 percent, which also included packages going up from Rs 999 to Rs 1,499 and from Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,799 during the fiscal year 2024–25.
She pointed out that the mobile industry had to cope with escalating prices but its average annual revenue growth of 9 percent over the past five years was less than the 17 percent inflation rate, thus resulting in a decline in the overall value of the telecom industry.
Shaza Fatima elaborated that operating with a significant market share requires getting a prior nod from PTA for any tariff alterations. She stated that Jazz has been classified as an SMP operator, while PTA is authorized to step in if the tariffs of the other operators are against the interests of the consumers.
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