Pakistan’s latest reading in the ICT Development Index 2026 is encouraging, but it is not a clean success story. It is better read as improvement from a low base.
The country’s IDI score rose from 56.4 in 2025 to 67.7 in 2026, a 20 percent year-on-year increase. And since 2023, the score has moved from 48.7 to 67.7. That is a meaningful gain.
But Pakistan still remains slightly below the lower-middle-income average of 68.9, well below the Asia-Pacific average and behind the global average.
The International Telecommunication Union does not publish rankings in the index. It reports scores to assess progress towards universal and meaningful connectivity. On that measure, Pakistan’s movement is positive. Yet the detail behind the score shows that the country’s digital challenge is not just about networks. It is about adoption, ownership, and usage.
The split between the two pillars: universal and meaningful connectivity, tells the real story. Pakistan scores 78.5 on meaningful connectivity, but only 56.8 on universal connectivity. This means that those who are connected appear to be using digital services more meaningfully, but too many people are still outside the connected economy. This is the key lacuna in the country’s digital story.
Data is relatively cheap. Usage among connected consumers is rising. But access has not become universal.
The country’s clearest strength is,however, affordability. The mobile data and voice basket is priced at 1.4 percent of GNI per capita. That is not yet below the ITU’s 1 percent affordability goalpost, but it is still much cheaper than the lower-middle-income average and even the Asia-Pacific average. This reflects one of Pakistan’s durable digital advantages: a highly price-competitive mobile market.
But affordability alone is not enough to close the digital divide. And it is actually a paradox. If mobile connectivity is relatively cheap, why are active mobile-broadband subscriptions only 55 per 100 people? This is a weak point for the country. It suggests that price is not the only barrier.
The index highlights that handset affordability, low device ownership, digital literacy, weak relevance of online content and gender gaps in access are all likely holding back adoption.
Device ownership is a particularly serious constraint. Only 49.8 percent of individuals are shown as owning a mobile phone. Cheap data does not help people who do not have a suitable device. This matters for e-commerce, financial inclusion, online education, digital public services, and the broader ambition of building an export-oriented technology economy.
Coverage is another red flag. Pakistan’s 3G and 4G population coverage are both listed at 81 percent. That means roughly one-fifth of the population is still outside reported mobile broadband coverage. This gap is likely concentrated in rural, and remote areas, which is not small for a country like Pakistan.
There is also a measurement caveat. The ICT Development Index itself does not capture everything that matters. It does not include fixed-broadband penetration, internet speed, digital skills, online safety, or cybersecurity. The report also warns that country-level averages can hide large disparities across regions and demographic groups.
So, Pakistan’s real digital divide may be even wider than the headline score suggests.
The policy takeaway is straightforward. Pakistan has made progress, and affordability is a real advantage. Data is cheap and local phone assembly has grown, but adoption is held back by coverage gaps, handset affordability, weak digital literacy, gendered access, and too few everyday digital use cases.