Ministry of information and technology sought an approval from the federal cabinet to roll out a world’s tech hot buzz fifth generation (5G) to improve mobile broadband speed across the country. The proposal will enable a market test of new and upcoming technologies, including 5G and other mobile communications. It will also make the country one of the first countries to test, trial and launch the 5G mobile technology.

The draft comprises policy directives for the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Frequency Allocation Board to identify appropriate bandwidth in the frequency spectrum blocks at present under consideration for 5G.

State Minister for IT Anusha Rahman said, “Ministry has stayed committed to accelerate digitization through the proliferation of broadband and particularly mobile broadband. Keeping the focus, we shall ensure that the Pakistani nation stays at the cutting edge of technology and the policy directive is meant to ensure and showcase the continued commitment.”

The 5G technology is currently in the research and development phase worldwide will be standardized by the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector in 2019.

The ministry’s proposal further said testing entities will be allowed access to such frequency blocks for testing purposes only. PTA will roll out such test trial facility for the new technologies through a regulatory framework to be issued in line with the Telecom Policy 2015 for temporary test and development licenses/authorizations within three months.

Test and trials will be regularly published in the annual report of the PTA to keep the transparency of the process and apprise public about developments ensuing from such technology.

Anusha Rahman added that 5G is a big catalyst in taking Pakistani information and communication technology sector market and usage to a whole new level for the benefit of economy and masses. It is the next big evolution, which will enable new ground-breaking data rates and revolutionize the customer experience for services/applications compared to what is available today.