{"id":97659,"date":"2026-01-17T23:13:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=97659"},"modified":"2026-01-17T23:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T18:13:36","slug":"pakistan-sees-sharp-50-hike-in-mobile-internet-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/pakistan\/pakistan-sees-sharp-50-hike-in-mobile-internet-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan sees sharp 50% hike in mobile internet prices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"102\" data-end=\"464\">ISLAMABAD: Millions of <a href=\"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/pakistan\/mobile-users-get-relief-as-operational-and-service-charges-on-card-loads-are-dropped\/\">mobile users<\/a> across Pakistan are waking up to the same disturbing reality, as internet packages have suddenly become much more expensive. What started as a small price adjustment has escalated into a full-scale hike, with some plans increasing by up to 50%.<\/p>\n<p>The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has officially confirmed what millions of mobile users feared, cellular operators have increased mobile package prices by up to 50% during the current fiscal year. The shocking news has sparked widespread anger, as consumers are already struggling with the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n<p>The ministry dismissed claims of a 150% hike in monthly tariffs, saying no package has gone from Rs600 to Rs1,500. However, it admitted that operators have gradually increased prices, ranging from around 20% to a staggering 50%.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"773\" data-end=\"829\">Mobile Package price surge<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"921\">\n<li data-start=\"830\" data-end=\"878\">\n<p data-start=\"832\" data-end=\"878\">Rs1,500 \u2192 Rs1,799 (approx. 20% increase)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"879\" data-end=\"921\">\n<p data-start=\"881\" data-end=\"921\">Rs999 \u2192 Rs1,499 (50% increase)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"923\" data-end=\"1097\">The response, issued by Federal Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, blamed the steep increases on relentless macroeconomic pressure weighing heavily on the telecom sector.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1150\" data-end=\"1206\">The ministry highlighted a brutal reality for consumers, as fuel prices surged by 158% between March 2021 and May 2024, rising from Rs111.9 to Rs288.49 per litre. Inflation soared by 77% during the same period. Rupee plunged 44% against the US dollar, falling from Rs156.02 to Rs278.25. The policy interest rate skyrocketed from 7% to 22%, causing telecom operators to pay far higher financing costs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1607\" data-end=\"1678\">Despite these alarming trends, the ministry revealed a troubling truth. Telecom revenue growth averaged only 9% per year over the last five years, while inflation averaged 17%, meaning the sector is actually losing value in real terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: Millions of mobile users across Pakistan are waking up to the same disturbing reality, as internet packages have suddenly become much more expensive. What started as a small price adjustment has escalated into a full-scale hike, with some plans increasing by up to 50%. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has officially confirmed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":70968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[33735],"class_list":["post-97659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","category-technology","tag-mobile-users"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97660,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97659\/revisions\/97660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}