IT minister woos telcos divided over 5G launch.

ISLAMABAD -- The telecom industry is divided over the launch of 5G network services in the country next year, with one mobile service provider willing for the upgrade while the other three wondering how the industry can commit more investments 'when its very survival is at stake'.

IT Minister Syed Aminul Haque has met the heads of four mobile cellular companies over the past two days.

He called on Jazz, Telenor and Ufone CEOs to his office on Thursday and tried to address their concerns, including the industry's poor financial health, increasing cost of business, and government's inconsistent policies, among a host of other issues.

The meeting came a day after the minister met Zong CEO Wang Hua, who had assured Mr Haque that the China Mobile-owned company would fully cooperate with the IT ministry for the 5G rollout in Pakistan.

Meets CEOs to address concerns; three players say investors wary of current business climate

In Thursday's meeting, the IT and telecom minister assured the three telco heads that the government was aware of issues faced by the telecom industry and efforts were under way to address them.

He said the government was determined to remove all bottlenecks at the departmental level to promote investment in the IT and telecom sector.

'The improvement in connectivity was linked to the telecom industry, and I am convinced that the economic stability of the country was linked with a strong and vibrant telecom industry,' Mr Haque said.

The minister and the CEOs agreed that a healthy and stable telecom sector was the foundation of a country's digital ecosystem.

The telco executives expressed concern over the lack of consistent government policies that they said was making it...