Pakistan has 100 million WhatsApp users sending 12 billion messages a day, PTA chairman tells NA panel

Pakistan has about 100 million WhatsApp users who send around 12 billion messages every day, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeez ur Rehman told lawmakers on Tuesday. ProPakistani reported his briefing to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom.

What the PTA chairman said

He briefed the committee on how social media and digital communication platforms are used in Pakistan. Two figures stood out:

• Users: about 100 million people use WhatsApp in the country.
• Traffic: daily messaging reaches around 12 billion messages.

Put another way, that is an average of 120 messages per user per day, though the figures were given as round estimates and the PTA did not say how it counted them.

Committee members raised network problems

The figures came up while members pressed the regulator on the quality of mobile services. One member said WhatsApp calls were getting disconnected even in Islamabad, and asked how telecom companies could be expected to improve service when users in major cities face the same problem.

The chairman accepted that there is considerable room for improvement. He said the PTA had inspected mobile towers and visited 41 districts together with telecom operators to find what is hurting network quality. He named electricity outages as one of the major obstacles, saying better power availability could significantly improve network performance.

What it means for users

A network with this much traffic puts pressure on towers, and a tower without power cannot carry calls. If you suffer repeated drops, you can complain to your operator first and then to the PTA. If you are bringing a phone into the country, our PTA mobile tax calculator shows what registration will cost.

The committee did not announce any new penalty or deadline for the operators at this meeting.