ISLAMABAD: JazzWorld delivered strong Q1 2026 results, with total revenue increasing 20.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) to over Rs 130 billion, driven by sustained growth across connectivity, digital financial services, entertainment, and digital lifestyle platforms.
Telecom and infrastructure revenue grew 14.3 percent YoY to Rs 82 billion, supported by continued growth in multiplay bundles, stronger prepaid monetization, and rising data consumption. Digital revenue increased 33 percent YoY to PKR 48 billion, contributing approximately 37% of total revenue compared to 33.4 percent in Q1 2025, reflecting accelerating adoption across JazzWorld’s expanding digital ecosystem.
EBITDA margin improved by 3.1 percentage points YoY to 45 percent, while EBITDA increased 29.4 percent YoY to PKR 58.5 billion, supported by operating leverage and disciplined cost management.
During the quarter, the company invested Rs 8.8 billion (approximately USD 31 million) to expand network capacity, strengthen digital infrastructure, and accelerate its evolution into Pakistan’s leading integrated digital ServiceCo. The investment supported network modernization, digital platform scaling, and AI-enabled customer experiences as part of JazzWorld’s broader transformation strategy.
Jazz’s subscriber base reached nearly 75 million, while 4G users grew 7.2 percent YoY to over 57 million, lifting 4G penetration to 76.3 percent. Multiplay customers increased 4.8% YoY to 23.8 million and now contribute approximately 3.5x higher ARPU than voice-only users, reflecting continued migration toward integrated digital experiences. ARPU increased 19.4 percent YoY to PKR 496, while average data usage rose 12.7 percent to 8.2 GB per user.
JazzWorld’s digital ecosystem continued to scale during the quarter, with total users across its digital platforms surpassing 143 million. JazzCash’s user base reached 60 million while the platform processed 202,000 digital loans daily and onboarded its one millionth Raast QR-enabled merchant earlier this year, further strengthening financial inclusion and digital payments adoption across Pakistan.
Financial Services revenues grew 44.1 percent YoY, supported by strong expansion across payments, lending, merchant solutions and SME services at JazzCash and by higher digital engagement and rising loan disbursement volumes at Mobilink Microfinance Bank.
Tamasha achieved a record peak of 33.5 million monthly active users during the ICC T20 World Cup, the highest reach recorded by a local streaming platform, while capturing approximately 70 percent of digital tournament viewership. SIMOSA, JazzWorld’s digital self-care and lifestyle platform, reached 34 million users, growing 15.2 percent quarter-on-quarter, while continuing to strengthen its position as a telco-agnostic platform. ROX crossed 1.5 million users, while FikrFree expanded to 17.8 million active policies, reflecting the growing adoption of digital insurance services.
Commenting on the results, Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of JazzWorld, said: “JazzWorld’s strong Q1 2026 performance reflects the growing scale and momentum of Pakistan’s digital economy. As millions of Pakistanis adopt digital services across finance, entertainment, and everyday platforms, our focus remains on building the infrastructure, platforms, and capabilities that make digital access more meaningful, inclusive, and future-ready. This is how we continue advancing our purpose of enabling a Better Life For All through technology.”
During March 2026, JazzWorld secured the largest allocation in Pakistan’s spectrum auction, acquiring 190 MHz spectrum across all newly introduced bands, including the 700 MHz “golden band” to strengthen rural coverage and high-capacity spectrum to support future-ready 4G and 5G services. The acquisition, valued at USD 239.5 million, further strengthened its network leadership and readiness for next-generation connectivity. Jazz has already launched 5G services across nearly 180 sites in eight major cities nationwide, with network footprint and compatible device support continuing to expand progressively.
Earlier in January 2026, JazzWorld also executed Pakistan’s largest-ever Rs 75 billion interest rate swap with United Bank Limited, strengthening financial resilience and reducing exposure to interest rate volatility. Since its inception, JazzWorld has invested over USD 11 billion in Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and recently announced an additional USD 1 billion investment over the next three years to support network modernization, capacity expansion, and phased 5G rollout nationwide.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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