Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (PTCL) reported losses amounting Rs 10.462 billion, bringing accumulative losses to Rs50.150 billion.

The losses were disclosed in the Federal State-Owned Enterprises annual aggregate report for fiscal year 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025), released by the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) of the Finance Division. Although PTCL is no longer classified as a state-owned enterprise due to its privatisation, it was included in the report for reporting purposes.

The report highlighted a decline in PTCL’s legacy product revenues, along with technological obsolescence and slow fibre rollout due to delayed investment decisions. Despite these setbacks, the company contributed Rs18.927 billion in other taxes, underlining the telecom sector’s role in driving indirect tax revenues.

PTCL’s financial strain is largely tied to its high leverage and rising debt-servicing costs. A major concern remains the dollar-denominated loan obtained from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to finance the $400 million acquisition of Telenor Pakistan. With revenues primarily in rupees, any depreciation of the local currency increases repayment costs in real terms, exposing the company to foreign exchange risk.

High finance costs are limiting PTCL’s operational flexibility and restricting fresh investments in fibre infrastructure and service upgrades. In a highly competitive telecom market featuring strong players such as Jazz and Zong, the company faces pressure to modernise its network while managing its debt burden. Analysts warn that prolonged financial stress could have fiscal implications for the government, which still holds a stake in PTCL.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has notified amendments to the Information Memorandum (IM) and licence template ahead of the upcoming NGMS/5G spectrum auction scheduled for March 10, 2026.

The base price, rollout obligations and licence fee structure remain unchanged. However, the regulator has revised quality-of-service benchmarks, reducing uplink speed requirements from 25 percent to 20 percent of downlink speeds for premium services. Performance measurement will now be based on median downlink speeds instead of minimum thresholds.

According to the final IM, service standards will be implemented in three phases. From 2026 to 2028, operators must ensure a median download speed of 20 Mbps for 4G and 50 Mbps for 5G. By 2028–2030, these benchmarks will rise to 35 Mbps for 4G and 75 Mbps for 5G. In the final phase covering 2030–2035, premium standards will require 50 Mbps for 4G and 100 Mbps for 5G, with uplink speeds maintained at 20 percent of downlink rates throughout.

The auction will offer spectrum across low, mid and high frequency bands to support nationwide 5G deployment, improve mobile broadband capacity and enable advanced digital services in sectors such as e-commerce, fintech and smart infrastructure.

The simultaneous financial strain on PTCL and the regulator’s push for 5G expansion reflect a transitional phase in Pakistan’s telecom industry. While operators must invest heavily in next-generation infrastructure to remain competitive, balance sheet pressures and currency volatility remain key risks.

With the March 2026 auction approaching, the sector’s ability to attract investment and manage financial exposure will be critical for ensuring a smooth 5G rollout and sustained digital growth.