Pakistan may not have had all that much to do with developing 5G technology, but it is ready enough to jump aboard the bandwagon, The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority plans to auction off the requisite bandwidth to the mobile phone companies during the fiscal year, with March next as a more specific target. So far, the PTA has received five proposals on how to hold the auction of fresh bandwidth. At present, mobile operators use 274 MHz of bandwidth, but will need another 300 MHz to launch 5G services. Both 3G and 4G were introduced in Pakistan through a bandwidth auction in 2014, and even a decade down the line, the change has not been fully processed.
However, there are a number of developments which have made it essential that 5G technology be adopted/ When 4G was coming in, the big thing was cloud computing, which seems tame compared to what is being offered. 5G is supposed to use the greater speeds and ability to handle more data to operate the Internet of Things, in which devices communicate with each other, enable Virtual Reality and robotics, and enable autonomous driving (though many consider that part of robotics). It is important globally that 5G roll out smoothly, for it is one of the few things China and the USA still agree on. It should perhaps not be forgotten that 3G, 4G and now 5G are basically just industry standards. However, if the USA and China began to develop separate industry standards, it would mean the bifurcation of the world, and the inoperability of devices in a different environment. That would mean that Chinese products could not be used in the USA and vice versa, while other countries would be forced to choose a standard to follow so that they could use one side’s products at least.
Even as the PTA prepares to auction off 5G spectrum, it will have to keep an eye open on 6G technology, which is to be rolled out towards the end of the 2030s. However, this too will be an enabling technology, and at this point it has not been identified which fields are expected to play a bigger role. Apart from the need to maintain the quality of life, there is also a coinciding of Pakistan’s intention to increase its IT exports. It should not be forgotten that 5G and 6G rollouts, and increased IT exports depend on reliable internet and reliable power neither is available, though it is encouraging that both a government goals.
