Aitizaz Hassan ISLAMABAD, March 18 (INP-WealthPK): The telecommunication sector generated the highest-ever revenue of Rs644 billion in financial year 2020-21 compared to Rs592 billion in 2019-20, thus registering a growth of 8.7%. Though the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sector declined by 73% to $202 million in fiscal year 2020-21 from $763 million in 2019-20, the industry grew exceptionally well with the help of local investment. [caption id="attachment_64938" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Source: PTA Annual Report 2021[/caption] According to the annual report of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the revenue generation from the spectrum auctions and licence renewals of different broadband and cellular companies in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) really made the difference in revenues in fiscal year 2020-21. An amount of $486 million was generated from spectrum auctions and licence renewals in AJK and GB. The PTA annual report says that the telecommunication industry contributed Rs225 billion to national exchequer during the fiscal year 2020-21 compared to Rs290 billion in previous fiscal year. The cellular mobile operators generated Rs461 million in fiscal year 2020-21 compared to Rs425 million in fiscal year 2019-20, posting a growth of 8.3%. The government generated Rs62 million in general sales tax from the telecom industry in the last fiscal year compared to Rs47 million in the previous fiscal year. The other taxes generated from the sector amounted to Rs113 million in 2020-21 compared to Rs101 million in 2019-20. [caption id="attachment_64937" align="aligncenter" width="696"] Source: PTA Annual Report 2021[/caption] The PTA annual report stressed that profitability of the telecom operators was key to attracting more investment, including the FDI, to boost the telecommunication infrastructure across the country. It said that the PTA was collaborating with the operators to expand telecom services and to ensure reasonable return on investments. The report said that PTA would continue its efforts for sustainable growth and profitability of the sector, ensuring adequate rollout of telecom infrastructure to meet the demand for high-speed data connectivity. Meanwhile, according to the data released by the ministry of information technology and telecommunications (MoITT), the trend of telecommunication exports also remained positive in the current fiscal year. Exports of telecommunication services were valued at $27 million in January 2022 compared to $24 million in January 2021, registering a growth of 10.4%. Similarly, the exports of call centre services fetched $16 million in January 2022 compared to $10 million in January 2021, registering a growth of 58.7%.