5G spectrum auction to be held in April 2025: Shaza

ISLAMABAD, Dec 18 (APP): Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Shaza Fatima Khawaja on Wednesday informed the National Assembly that the auction of 5G spectrum would be held in April 2025 while the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is an autonomous body and falls under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet Division.
Replying to supplementary questions during the Question Hour session of the ongoing 11th session of the 16th meeting of the lower house of the Parliament, she said that the social media X platform was closed by the PTA on the advice of the Interior Ministry and the IT ministry has no concern with it.
Shaza added that there was no question of the restrictions of expression and freedom of speech, X was used around 2 per cent in Pakistan, adding if the government was interested in restricting the freedom of speech it had to ban social platforms like Facebook and Tiktok which were most popular and used in Pakistan.
The state minister informed that internet speed has improved by 28 per cent and mobile internet by 24 per cent according to a recent report issued by the PTA, adding, that IT exports had increased by 34 per cent during the last five months witnessing that internet speed quality had improved.
Shaza said that despite high-security measures during the SCO meeting the internet facilities were provided to business entities.
Earlier, the internet was shut down in the entire country during Ashura days while this year the internet was closed down in limited areas due to effective use of technology.
She added that there was nothing more important than national security, “We have to protect the country from cyber-attacks and data leaks.”
She informed that the internet speed frequency was 274 Megahertz(MHz), which had been increased to 550 MHz after the litigation process.
Shaza said that the PML(N) government had distributed around 1.1 mln laptops to ensure the advancing process of digitization while a policy was being introduced to provide smartphones in easy instalments to all.