Fone. Other operators including Paktel users were 924,486, Instaphone had a subscribers' base of 454,147, Telenor had sold out 835,727 connections and Warid users were 508,655 during the same period. While, a sizeable increase is being witnessed in the cell phone population, the authorities are considering many options to cater the increasing demand. Officials said the rapid telecom sector growth has forced the PTA to introduce eight-digit number as the present seven digits are not sufficient to cater to the growth. They ruled out issuance of new license to any new company and said that the government provided the existing operators with a level playing field so that they could reinforce their infrastructure in the country. The market is much broad and the existing operators can attract a good number of subscribers by introducing lucrative packages and improvement of service, officials said. They added that the majority of the cell phone users are based in urban localities and the number is much less in Pakistan rural areas. The government estimates over $2 billion investment by the end of the current year in the telecom sector.
