GSMA report highlights Mobile Broadband Networks cover 80 percent of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD -- The GSMA report on 'The power of mobile to accelerate digital transformation in Pakistan' Thursday highlighted that mobile broadband networks cover 80 percent of the population and 97 percent of internet connections are mobile.

At a high-level roundtable meeting between the Government of Pakistan and mobile industry leaders, the GSMA launched its report, examining the transformative opportunities presented by mobile-enabled digital services in Pakistan, a press release said.

The report findings revealed that Pakistan has nearly 700,000 cellular IoT connections across the areas including agriculture, clean energy and safe water solutions. Mobile technology is the primary channel for digital financial services, digital birth registration initiatives, digital health solutions and digital learning, it added.

'The mobile ecosystem in Pakistan plays an increasingly important role in economic growth, contributing around $16.7 billion, equivalent to 5.4 percent of GDP and use mobile platforms for national development plans: Pakistan's 12th Five-Year Development Plan runs from 2019 to 2024. There is a significant opportunity to incorporate mobile, particularly on efforts to improve areas such as gender equality, health, education and poverty reduction,' the report said.

The meeting which held in partnership with the GSMA and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development (DFID) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), discussed how Pakistan could advance digital and economic inclusion through mobile.

'Mobile offers the most extensive and inclusive platform to access the internet and digital technologies, which...