Overview
- The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has directed all cellular operators to give every prepaid recharge at least 180 days of validity and to automatically reinstate any expired balance when a subscriber next recharges, with the rule taking effect on October 1, 2026.
- Reinstatement of expired balances will apply only while the SIM remains in active, usable condition so subscribers must keep their SIMs active to recover past credit.
- PTA reached the decision after a public consultation that showed most consumers backed permanent validity of balances while operators largely rejected a CNIC-linked portability scheme because of technical, fraud and cost risks.
- About 97 percent of Pakistan’s mobile users are on prepaid plans, so the change aims to prevent direct financial losses for low-income customers who previously lost unused credit when short validity windows expired.
- The regulator barred unfair commercial practices as part of the determination and cited international examples such as Vodafone UK; some operators like Jazz said they already keep balances valid while the SIM is active and others warned of implementation costs and reporting complications.