Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday announced that the government is making efforts to introduce 5G technology to make internet services faster and more reliable.
"This will also help achieve the vision of Digital Pakistan," said the premier while addressing the leadership of VEON Group — a multinational telecommunication and digital services company— in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The country has been reeling with slow internet hiccups for several months now, aggravated by intermittent spells of social media outages, multiplying users' frustration, reported The News.
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It was lamented during the discussion that the country's internet speeds are behind the global standards by a considerable margin, a woe which if not addressed will leave the country out in the cold of the global digital economy.
The most recent account of the inappropriately managed digital infrastructure of the country is the persistent ban on X, however, users often complained about sluggish functionality of widely used social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Snapchat.
5G internet in Pakistan
The announcement of the impending launch of 5G comes over the heels of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last week claiming the full restoration of internet services countrywide, a feat brought about by repairing the SMW4 underwater cable defect.
The reinstitution of the underwater submarine cable put an end to the longstanding issues with internet speeds which had been affecting various internet-reliant sectors for four months.