The number of mobile phone users increased a mere 24,000 in July 2017 which is apparently a record low for any month as three out of four cellular services companies reported a negative growth in subscribers.Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reported a net addition of 23,638 new cellular connections in July. It was a massive slowdown in the growth of cellular subscribers compared to an average of 0.5 million new connections per month in the previous fiscal year 2016-17 and 1.5 million per month a year before that, according to the regulator.PTA spokesman Khurram Ali Mehran said the slowdown in the number of new connections and the negative growth posted by three companies “may be a result of the condition whereby a SIM (connection) will automatically become deactivated if it is not used for 90 consecutive days.”The spokesman, supported by industry officials, added PTA had taken no regulatory measures that could have impacted the growth like that happened in 2014-15 when the regulator made the biometric verification of SIMs mandatory, which changed the industry’s landscape.An industry official commented that for the first time “the subscriber base has reached its saturation point”.Now, almost every single phone user has bought multiple SIMs. From now on, the pace of new connections may remain slow. The industry official, who requested anonymity, added the upward growth in subscribers reported by one company and the downward growth posted by the remaining companies “is showing consumers’ behaviour”.“Now, competition has become tougher. Companies offering the best mix of voice and internet packages will last longer,” another industry official said. ICT expert Parvez Iftikhar was of the opinion that cellular firms were not making required investments to expand their outreach to rural and semi-urban areas.He said recently the subscriber base may have reached the saturation point in urban areas, but the much-needed growth may come from rural and semi-urban areas.Contrary to the slowdown in new mobile connections, hundreds of thousands of existing voice phone users started using mobile internet as well in July 2017.Surprisingly, more people switched to the most advanced 4G internet connections compared to 3G connections.According to the PTA, 914,023 mobile phone users got mobile internet connections in July, which included 510,245 (56%) 4G connections and 403,778 (44%) 3G connections.Published in The Express Tribune, September 1, 2017.Like Business on Facebook , follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.