What the minister announced
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja told reporters in Islamabad on Friday, 2 January 2026 that Pakistan would auction 600 megahertz (MHz) of spectrum next month and complete the rollout of 5G services within roughly six months. The auction would be roughly ten times larger than all of Pakistan’s past spectrum auctions put together and was intended to relieve chronic network congestion before next-generation mobile services launched.
The minister’s statement built on the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) decision on 23 December 2025 to approve the auction process within two months, on the recommendation of US-based consultancy National Economic Research Associates (NERA). That earlier ECC meeting, chaired jointly by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister Khawaja, had set the end-of-January or early-February target that the 2 January briefing reaffirmed publicly.
How wide the gap is
Pakistan’s telecom operators currently run their networks on 274 MHz of spectrum for about 240 million people, the minister said. Bangladesh — with roughly two-thirds of Pakistan’s population — provides 600 MHz. “We are a spectrum-starved country,” she said. Bangladesh, India, Bhutan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka have already launched 5G; Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan have not.
NERA recommended, and the ECC approved, offering 606 MHz of new spectrum across six bands — 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2600 MHz and 3500 MHz. Operators winning spectrum would be contractually obliged to roll it out within four to six months, the minister said. A November 2025 consultant report had been stalled by the PTCL–Telenor merger and litigation over the 2600 MHz band; both were cited as reasons the auction had not been held sooner.
What is still uncertain
The minister’s timeline is a public restatement of the ECC’s December decision; the formal auction notice, reserve prices and band-by-band availability had not been published on the date of this report. Consumer 5G quality will depend on operator capex, base-station rollout and the PTCL–Telenor merger’s outcome.
Sources & reporting notes
This article draws on a single contemporaneous Dawn report of the minister's 2 January 2026 briefing, plus Dawn's 23 December 2025 reporting of the underlying ECC decision for context. No independent Pakistan or international outlet's same-day article on the minister's 2 January announcement could be located within the source-finding budget; AP and Reuters wire URLs returned 403 from the extraction backend. The Dawn reports quote the minister and the ECC record directly and are treated as an authoritative account; this single-outlet limitation is disclosed in lieu of a second independent domain.
- Dawn — 'Spectrum-starved country': IT minister says govt to auction 600 MHz spectrum next monthPublished 2 January 2026. Reports the minister's 2 January briefing, the February auction target, the 274 MHz-versus-600 MHz comparison with Bangladesh, and the band-by-band breakdown of the 606 MHz of new spectrum.
- Dawn — Govt sets two-month timeline for spectrum auctionPublished 23 December 2025. Reports the ECC's approval of the auction process within two months and the NERA consultant recommendation.
