Every few months someone forwards me a message claiming 5G is “finally live” in Pakistan, usually with a blurry screenshot and a lot of capital letters. It never is. But something real did happen in mid-September, and if you’re a Telenor user waiting on 5G, it’s actually worth knowing about.
The real news: PTA cleared 5G trials for AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan
On 15 September 2026, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority approved the framework for 5G trials in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, as reported by TechnologyPlus.pk. Policy directives clearing 5G trials in GB have been issued, which means operators will now receive formal instructions from the regulator to start testing.
These won’t be marketing demos. The trials are supposed to test 5G Radio Access Networks (RAN) in the field, try out new frequency bands — 2300 MHz, 2600 MHz and 3500 MHz — check network compatibility, and measure real coverage and performance on the ground.
Why AJK and GB are a separate story
You might wonder why the northern regions are getting their own trial phase instead of joining whatever is happening in Karachi or Lahore. The reason is paperwork: AJK and GB were not part of Pakistan’s primary 5G spectrum auction held in March 2026. They operate under separate licensing frameworks with their own spectrum allocations.
So the regulator has laid out a four-step roadmap for these regions: first the trials, then a dedicated 5G spectrum auction specifically for AJK & GB, then licensing and spectrum assignment, and only after that, full commercial 5G for residents. Meanwhile, the Special Communications Organization is upgrading regional infrastructure in parallel, putting up new 5G base station towers across Kashmir and GB.
That’s a slow, deliberate sequence. It tells you the PTA is building 5G properly rather than rushing an announcement — good for the country, but it also tells you the finish line is still a way off.
Where the rest of Pakistan stands right now
The March 2026 auction offered around 597 MHz of spectrum across multiple bands, and Jazz, Zong and Ufone (PTML) were reported as the winners, according to PakTribune and 24 News HD coverage from March. Rollout since then has been gradual: the same TechnologyPlus.pk report notes that Karachi now has 279 active 5G sites across the major networks. Progress, clearly — but still a long way from a phone icon that says “5G” in your status bar every day.
If the network generations confuse you, it helps to remember where we are in the sequence. Most of us are still on 4G day to day, and if your phone shows anything lower than that, sorting out your 4G settings is the first move — I’ve written a separate guide on how to activate 4G on your Telenor SIM that walks through it. VolTE is another piece of the same puzzle, and it’s worth understanding what it is and how to enable it on Telenor before the next generation arrives.
What all of this means for Telenor users
Here’s the Telenor-specific angle, and it runs through the merger. As we’ve covered before, Telenor is in the process of merging into Ufone — you can read the full picture in my earlier piece on what the Telenor-Ufone merger means for you.
The connection to 5G: Ufone’s parent company PTML was one of the spectrum winners in the March auction, and SUNO News has reported that PTML’s acquired 5G spectrum is expected to serve Telenor Pakistan users too once the merger completes. Two important qualifiers on that sentence. First, it’s “expected” and “reported” — the merger is still subject to regulatory approvals, so nothing is final. Second, nobody — not PTA, not PTML, not Telenor — has announced a commercial 5G launch date for Telenor users. Anyone telling you otherwise is guessing.
So the honest answer to the headline question: Telenor users don’t get 5G on a date you can circle on a calendar yet. The most likely path runs through the Ufone merger and the spectrum that comes with it, and that path still has regulatory and commercial steps ahead of it.
Is your phone even 5G-ready?
While the networks do their part, the other half of the equation is in your pocket. Not every phone supports 5G — and “5G-ready” means more than a marketing line on the box.
Check your phone’s specs for 5G band support (2600 MHz and 3500 MHz are the ones being trialled here). If you bought a phone in the last couple of years, there’s a decent chance it already supports 5G even if you’ve never used it. And one small but real tip: keep your software updated, because carriers push the network profiles and carrier settings that enable new bands through regular updates.
The bottom line
The September approval for AJK and GB trials is genuinely good news — it means Pakistan’s 5G story is still moving, region by region, with a clear roadmap attached. But if you’re a Telenor user in Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad asking “when do I get 5G?”, the truthful answer is: not yet, and there’s no confirmed date. Watch the merger approvals and the trial results; those are the two signals that actually matter.
And until 5G arrives, the MBs you earn every day are still 4G MBs — free ones, if you play the daily quiz. You can test your skills and grab today’s free MBs right here on the homepage.
