The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has proposed that every gateway used by Internet of Things and low power wide area network providers must be formally registered, bringing a fast-growing part of the country’s connected infrastructure under direct oversight. The proposal sits inside the draft Internet of Things and Low Power Wide Area Networks Licensing Regulations 2026, circulated for consultation on 5 November, with comments open until 20 November. Until the consultation closes and the rules are notified in the gazette, none of the new requirements carry legal force, and feedback could still change them.
A gateway is the bridge between thousands of small, battery-powered sensors and the wider internet. A soil sensor in a Punjab field, a smart meter in Lahore, or a tracker on a truck sends tiny bursts of radio data, which the gateway picks up and forwards to a server for storage and analysis. The sensors use very little power, so one battery can keep a device running for years, and a single gateway can listen to devices spread across several kilometres. That mix of long range and low power is what LPWAN stands for.
Pakistan has been working towards settled rules for this technology for some time. The authority updated its framework for short range devices and terrestrial IoT services earlier this year, and in April it issued IoT licences to 23 companies under that earlier framework. The new draft replaces that piecemeal approach with a fuller structure. At its centre is a five-year commercial licence for firms providing IoT services to third parties, with a processing fee of Rs 5,000 and an initial licence fee of Rs 100,000, well below the Rs 300,000 charged under the earlier district-level framework. The draft also creates registration categories for private networks and software firms, plus a one-year research registration for trials.
The technical heart of the framework is the radio spectrum these networks use. The draft proposes two bands, 433.05 to 434.79 megahertz and 920 to 925 megahertz, with transmission power capped at one watt, operating on a secondary, non-interference and non-protection basis. That condition matters, because the 920 to 925 megahertz band sits immediately beside the frequencies used by Pakistan’s mobile networks. Gateways listen for extremely faint signals from sensors kilometres away, so a powerful mobile signal nearby can drown them out, while a gateway’s own transmissions can leak into the bands where mobile base stations hear handsets.
Existing Operators Given 90 Days to Register Gateways
Companies already holding LPWAN licences would not be thrown out of the market, but they would face a firm deadline. Under the draft, existing licensees would have 90 days from the regulations taking effect to register each gateway through the authority’s online portal. Their current licences would be treated as issued under the proposed regulations for the rest of their validity, provided they comply. The same duty would apply to every registration holder and licence holder, with each gateway registered individually.
The draft also gives the authority teeth to back the register up. It authorises PTA to inspect gateway installation sites and to revoke authorisation where it finds a violation. Operators must also route backend traffic, including satellite backhaul, through a PTA-licensed local access provider, and keep IoT data inside Pakistan unless the authority has approved storage abroad. The regulator wants to know not only that a network exists, but where its equipment is and where its data ends up.
PTA Proposes No Annual Gateway Registration Fee
One detail is likely to draw relief from operators, especially smaller ones. Under the proposed fee schedule, registering a gateway would carry no annual charge at all. That removes a recurring cost that would otherwise grow with every new gateway installed, and it fits the lower licence fee as a whole, which appears designed to encourage startups and smaller operators to enter the market.
What the authority asks for instead of money is information. The proposed form would require the make and model of each gateway and its PTA type approval details, so only equipment already cleared for use in Pakistan can be deployed. Operators would also state the frequency range, radio output power, antenna type and height, plus the installation address and GPS coordinates. It also asks about the installation environment, deployment purpose, expected number of connected devices, backhaul type, coverage radius, and quality of service parameters monitored.
The balance the draft strikes, between free registration and a demanding form, says much about what the regulator wants. Charging nothing lowers the barrier for legitimate operators to come forward, while the detail required makes it much harder for a network to operate in the shadows. For farmers using soil sensors, utilities reading meters remotely, and cities monitoring air quality, the effect should be a more reliable service, since registered equipment is less likely to interfere with other networks or mobile services. If the draft survives largely as written, gazette notification will start the 90-day clock, and every new gateway will need to be on the register before it carries traffic.
