Pakistanis watch 560 million YouTube videos daily: PTA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan ranks among the world’s leading countries in YouTube viewership, with 560 million video views recorded daily, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman has told a parliamentary committee.

He shared the figures while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication about social media usage and digital trends in the country.

According to the PTA chairman, around 96 million Pakistanis currently use YouTube, while the platform receives approximately 560 million daily video views in the country.

He also revealed that TikTok has around 100 million user accounts in Pakistan, while nearly 150 million Pakistanis watch videos on the platform.

Providing details about WhatsApp usage, Hafeez Ur Rehman said the messaging application has approximately 100 million user accounts in the country.

He added that Pakistanis make around one billion WhatsApp calls every day and send approximately 12 billion messages through the platform.

During the meeting, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja highlighted the growing demand for digital services, saying that the use of social media platforms and artificial intelligence had significantly increased data consumption.

She said no spectrum auction had been held after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left office. She added that Nawaz Sharif had introduced 4G services in the country, while the present government had conducted the spectrum auction for 5G services.

Shaza Fatima further informed the committee that approximately 1.8 million people in Pakistan were using 5G services. She said the technology was being introduced in 24 cities, while the government was working to improve telecommunications services.

The minister also highlighted several challenges affecting the quality and reliability of telecom services across the country.

She said theft of telecommunications infrastructure was among the major problems faced by service providers. Entire mobile towers, diesel supplies and generators were sometimes stolen, disrupting services and affecting network performance.

The briefing highlighted the growing demand for digital connectivity in Pakistan, alongside infrastructure and security challenges facing the country’s telecommunications sector.