The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has proposed a new licensing system for Internet of Things services in the country, setting an initial licence fee of Rs. 100,000 for companies that want to run low-power wide-area networks. The draft Internet of Things and Low Power Wide Area Networks Licensing Regulations 2026 set out separate rules for businesses that sell IoT connectivity, run private networks, or build IoT platforms and applications. The move gives Pakistan’s connected-devices sector a clearer legal footing.
Under the draft framework, IoT services will be divided into three categories: licence-exempt operations, registration, and licensing. Companies planning to provide LPWAN connectivity and related services to third parties will need a PTA licence. The licence will remain valid for five years, and applications will be submitted through the regulator’s online system. Alongside the Rs. 100,000 licence fee, PTA has proposed a non-refundable application processing fee of Rs. 5,000.
The proposed charges are much lower for other categories of users. Companies operating private IoT networks, and providers of IoT platforms or applications, will each pay an initial registration fee of Rs. 10,000, along with a Rs. 5,000 processing fee. These registrations will also remain valid for five years. A private network on a single site, such as a farm, a factory, or a campus, needs only this registration, but it cannot serve anyone outside its own premises.
The draft also introduces a separate regulatory sandbox registration for research, development, testing, and trials. It will cost Rs. 2,000, with an additional Rs. 1,000 processing fee, and remain valid for one year. The cheaper sandbox tier is aimed at universities and startups that want to test connected devices before a full commercial rollout.
Licensed operators will face clear obligations once the rules take effect. They must start providing services within a year of the regulations coming into force and obtain a commencement certificate from PTA, or their licences could be cancelled, although the regulator may allow an extension of up to six months. Licensed operators must also register their gateways and submit quarterly reports on their active IoT connections and gateways. They must also comply with the applicable spectrum regulations. Existing LPWAN licensees will be required to register their gateways within 90 days after the new regulations come into force.
The draft is the latest step in a process that began more than five years ago. PTA first put out a draft licensing framework for terrestrial IoT services in July 2021, began accepting licence applications in May 2022, and published a revised framework in December 2025. In April 2026 it issued IoT licences to 23 companies, and those licences will carry over if the operators comply with the new requirements within 90 days.
The new fee is considerably lower than before: under the earlier district-level framework, a company paid Rs. 300,000 upfront plus Rs. 100,000 a year for a ten-year licence. The proposed Rs. 100,000 licence for five years cuts that entry cost sharply, a change that looks designed to draw startups and smaller operators into the formal system.
The draft also sets the technical ground rules: the proposed frequency bands are 433.05 to 434.79 MHz and 920 to 925 MHz, with transmission power capped at one watt, and operations run on a secondary, non-interference, non-protection basis. Jazz, Zong, and the merged Ufone-Telenor are left out because their current spectrum licences already cover IoT services. All operators must route their backend traffic, including satellite backhaul, through a PTA-licensed Local Access Provider, and connecting through an unlicensed provider leads to automatic cancellation of the licence or registration. IoT data must also be stored inside Pakistan unless PTA gives prior approval for it to be kept abroad.
LPWAN networks are built for small amounts of data sent over long distances using very little power, so a sensor on a farm, a smart meter, a tracker on a truck, or a street light can run for years on a single battery while reporting back to a central system. The draft names ten application areas, including smart cities, energy utilities, agriculture, environmental monitoring, industrial automation, logistics, healthcare, education, and public safety, a range that shows the regulator sees the technology as useful far beyond telecom itself.
Pakistan’s LPWAN market was estimated at around USD 641 million in 2025 and is projected to reach about USD 928 million by 2032, growing at roughly 6 percent a year, while the wider IoT connectivity market is expected to grow from USD 284 million to USD 402 million over the same period. Growth is being driven by smart-city projects, precision farming, and industrial automation.
For now, the regulations remain a draft, so the fees and conditions can still change after industry comments. What matters next is how the consultation goes, how quickly the final rules appear, and how many companies, farms, and factories actually sign up. The real test is whether lower fees and clearer tiers bring more operators into the formal system without burying them in paperwork; if that balance is struck, cheaper, better-regulated connectivity could reach far more of the country, from city water meters to sensors in remote fields.
