Pakistan Has 159.4 Million 4G Users and 2.9 Million on 3G, PTA's August 2026 Data Shows

Short answer: PTA's August 2026 table counts 159,393,832 4G subscribers in Pakistan and 2,900,144 on 3G. Jazz shows no 3G users at all. Total broadband stands at 166,739,114, of which 162,293,976 are on mobile networks.

A 3G connection is now under 2 per cent of mobile broadband in PTA's table. If your phone still shows only 3G, you are in a shrinking group. This report shows how small the group has become and what to do if you are in it.

We opened PTA's Telecom Indicators page on 12 October 2026 and read the 3G and 4G charts for each operator and the broadband chart. The page says its figures are updated as of August 2026. It gives no posting date. The totals, the shares and the changes since September 2025 are our own sums on PTA's numbers.

4G holds 98.2 per cent of mobile broadband and 3G has shrunk by a third

PTA counts 162,293,976 mobile broadband users in August 2026. Of these, 159,393,832 are on 4G and 2,900,144 are on 3G. In September 2025 the 3G count was 4,290,173, so it has fallen by 1,390,029 in 11 months, or 32.4 per cent.

Jazz has no 3G users in PTA's table for the whole year

The Jazz 3G line reads zero for every month from September 2025 to August 2026. All 59,262,883 of its mobile broadband users are listed as 4G. Zong still reports the most 3G users, 1,645,966, which has fallen only slightly in a year.

Telenor and Ufone are clearing 3G faster. Telenor went from 1,011,494 to 569,446 and Ufone from 1,448,824 to 614,531. PTA's page does not say why these numbers fell. A move to 4G, a closed 3G site or a SIM that went unused would all show the same drop, so we do not name a cause.

Nearly one in four SIMs is not counted as a 3G or 4G user

PTA lists 211,172,682 mobile subscribers but 162,293,976 mobile broadband users. That leaves 48,878,706 SIMs outside the data count, or 23.1 per cent. The page does not say who they are, so we do not guess.

The share of an operator's SIMs that count as data users differs a lot. It is 94.7 per cent for SCO, 83.8 per cent for Zong, 77.7 per cent for Jazz, 72.3 per cent for Ufone and 68.9 per cent for Telenor. This is a reading of PTA's totals. It is not a statement about how any person uses a SIM.

Fibre to the home grew 31 per cent while DSL fell 14 per cent

Of 166,739,114 broadband connections, only 4,445,138 are not on a mobile network. Fibre to the home (FTTH) is 3,006,095, up from 2,288,821 in September 2025. DSL, the old copper-line service, is 814,687, down from 950,698.

PTA's page also shows a broadband penetration line of 65.92 per cent for August 2026, up from 61.17 per cent in September 2025. The 3G and 4G penetration line reads 64.17 per cent. The page does not spell out the base, so we cannot tell you what these percentages are a share of.

What to do if your phone or SIM is stuck on 3G

First find out whether the phone, the SIM or the area is the cause. A 3G phone cannot use 4G. An old SIM can block 4G on a new phone. A weak area can drop you to 3G on its own. Check in that order.

1. Open your phone's network settings and make sure 4G or LTE is set as the preferred mode.
2. Check whether your SIM is 4G and turn on VoLTE, as set out in our guide to checking your 4G SIM and VoLTE on Jazz, Zong and Ufone.
3. If both are fine, ask your operator whether the SIM itself needs to be replaced for 4G.
4. If the SIM and phone are fine and you still sit on 3G at home, complain with the steps in how to complain to PTA about slow or dead internet.

If you are planning for 5G, note that PTA's table has no 5G column. Our explanation of whether you need a new SIM for 5G covers the phone and SIM side.

If you want home internet, compare the fixed options

With only about 4.4 million non-mobile broadband connections, a home line is still a small market. Check your options by price and by PTA's quality tests before you sign a contract.

Our price comparison of the cheapest home internet packages from PTA's list shows what each company charges. Then use the PTA 80 per cent speed rule to hold the company to the speed on its brochure.

Common questions

How many 4G users does Pakistan have?

PTA's table shows 159,393,832 on 4G at the end of August 2026. The count was 143,769,588 in September 2025, so it grew by 10.9 per cent.

How many people are still on 3G in Pakistan?

PTA counts 2,900,144 3G users in August 2026. That is 1.8 per cent of mobile broadband users, down from 4,290,173 in September 2025.

Does Jazz still have 3G users?

Not in PTA's table. The Jazz 3G line reads zero in every month from September 2025 to August 2026, and all its mobile broadband users are listed as 4G.

Is 3G being shut down in Pakistan?

We found no PTA notice of a 3G shutdown on the page we read. The numbers show 3G shrinking, but a shrinking count is not an announcement.

Why do some SIMs not count as 3G or 4G users?

PTA's page does not say. About 48.9 million of 211.2 million SIMs are outside the 3G and 4G count, and the page gives no definition.

Is fibre internet growing in Pakistan?

Yes. PTA's table shows fibre to the home rising from 2,288,821 to 3,006,095 connections in 11 months, a rise of 31.3 per cent.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We read the operator-wise 3G and 4G series and the broadband series on PTA's Telecom Indicators page on 12 October 2026, covering September 2025 to August 2026. We did not check these figures against any operator report. The page gives no posting date and no definition of penetration. Percentages, combined totals and the 48,878,706 gap between all SIMs and data users are our arithmetic, and rounding may move the last digit.