ISLAMABAD: PTA member Dr. Khawar Siddiqui Khokhar has briefed the Senate Standing Committee on Information and Technology that commercial launch of 5G in the country would take four to five years.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Monday briefed the Parliamentary Panel that 5G policy was formulated in 2017, and the telecommunication Authority had established and issued a 5G framework on trial basis in June this year.
“All network operators have been making arrangements to conduct 5G tests since October 2017. In this regard, Telenor submitted an application on July 23 whereas Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) submitted a request on August 8. Mobilink and Special Communications Organisation (SCO) also submitted applications for starting the trial,” PTA told the senate committee in the parliamentary briefing.
However, the official highlighted the challenges regarding the availability of spectrums and the issues that are yet to be resolved. He informed the panel, “the impact of 5G on human health, right of ways, applications, security, and infrastructure was yet to be reviewed and expressed hope that the technology would be available by 2021”. The IT secretary instructed the PTA to take Senator Attique Shaikh onboard in regards to the spectrum cost of 5G.
National Disaster Management Authority’s spokesperson (NDMA) also guided the Senate body over the use of information technology, “saying that a mobile management system would be introduced for weather forecasting”.
He added that 3G and 4G technology would be used to collect data for flood and earthquake forecasting and the department is working on a digital model that had been prepared for the data collection.
