Why mobile package prices have risen by 50%

The federal government has told the Senate that mobile phone companies increased the prices of their monthly packages by up to 50 percent during the current financial year.

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja explained that these price increases happened because the telecom sector is facing strong economic pressure. She said fuel prices increased by 158 percent between March 2021 and May 2024.

During the same period, inflation went up by 77 percent, and the Pakistani rupee lost 44 percent of its value against the US dollar. She also said the policy rate rose by 214 percent, which made borrowing much more expensive for telecom companies.

The minister shared this information in a written reply to a question asked by Senator Rana Mahmood Ul Hassan.

She rejected claims that any monthly package price jumped from Rs. 600 to Rs. 1500, saying the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) found no such case. However, she confirmed that mobile companies slowly increased prices between 20 percent and 50 percent. Examples included packages rising from Rs. 999 to Rs. 1499 and from Rs. 1500 to Rs. 1799 during FY 2024–25.

The minister also told the Senate that despite these increases, the mobile industry’s average yearly revenue growth over the past five years was only 9 percent. This was much lower than the average inflation rate of 17 percent between 2020 and 2024. She said this gap caused a loss in real value for the telecom industry.

On regulation, Shaza Fatima Khawaja said that under the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996, and Mobile Tariff Regulations, 2025, companies with Significant Market Power (SMP) must get approval from PTA before changing tariffs.

She confirmed that Jazz has been declared an SMP operator in the retail mobile market and that its prices are approved by PTA. She added that the authority can step in if tariffs by other operators harm consumer interests.

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