Pakistan has 96 million YouTube users who watch 560 million videos every day, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Hafeez Ur Rehman told a National Assembly (NA) committee on Tuesday.
Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology, the PTA chairman shared figures on the use of social media and messaging platforms in the country, including YouTube, TikTok and WhatsApp.
He said that Pakistan ranked first globally in YouTube viewership, with users watching 560 million videos daily. The country currently has 96 million users on the video-sharing platform.
Rehman also shared figures for TikTok, saying that the platform had 100 million registered accounts in Pakistan, while 150 million people watched videos on it.
On WhatsApp usage, the PTA chairman stated that the platform had 100 million accounts in the country. Users make one billion calls and send 12 billion messages through the messaging service every day.
Separately, Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja told the committee that increased use of social media platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) had led to higher data consumption.
She also discussed the country’s spectrum auctions, saying that no auction had taken place since former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left office. She said that the Sharif-led government had introduced 4G services, while the incumbent government had held a 5G spectrum auction.
The minister told the committee that 1.8 million people were using 5G services in Pakistan. She added that the technology was being rolled out in 24 cities, while the government was taking steps to improve service quality.
Shaza also identified theft of telecommunications infrastructure as one of the factors behind disruptions in services. She told the committee that incidents involving the theft of entire mobile towers, diesel and generators affected the quality and continuity of telecom services.
