Pakistan ranked No. 1 for providing most affordable mobile data services: PTA

Among all technologically advanced and well-equipped countries in the world, Pakistan has been ranked number one for the provision of most affordable telecom services in a list of 139 countries, according to the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness Index Report noted by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in a press release.

According to report, Pakistan has left behind India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the South Asian region, which are ranked at 8th, 14th, and 35th respectively, for providing cheap data bundles over mobile sim cards.

The press release issued by PTA on Saturday, stated that World Economic Forum (WEF) has also released a Competitiveness Index Report, according to which Pakistan is ahead of India, Bangladesh and Iran in terms of availability of latest technologies and internet bandwidth.

It is pre-eminent to note here that WEF is an international institution for public-private cooperation and it is regarded as one of the most reputed, credible and authentic source of information all across the globe.

In the press release, PTA also argues that Cable.co.uk has ranked Pakistan at number 33 based on its calculation of the average price of 1GB mobile data at the rate of $1.85 per month. PTA claims that this calculation is not correct.

PTA goes on further by adding that it has evaluated monthly plans/packages offered by mobile companies in Pakistan and the average price of 1GB mobile internet data turns out to be only $0.72.

Meanwhile, as per PTA’s analysis, Pakistan’s average price for one GB mobile data is the second lowest in the Asia Pacific region leaving behind Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Iran, Indonesia etc.

Moreover, PTA also collected data from telecom operators in the country, according to which, the average price of 1GB mobile data is between $0.29 to $0.59 per month.

In its effort to resolve the misconception of global media outlet, PTA has tried to reach out the representatives of Cable.co.uk for clarification through email and telephone, however, no response has been received until now.