CCTV installation cost in Pakistan depends mainly on how many cameras you need and what each one must see, how long the footage must be kept, and how much cabling, power and containment the site needs. Recorders and storage, outdoor protection, power backup, the viewing set-up, software licences and the maintenance contract make up the rest. Two quotes for “32 cameras” can be far apart because they describe different cameras, different retention and different installation work, so compare them line by line rather than by the total.
This guide explains each cost driver without quoting prices, which move with exchange rates and specification. Use it to read quotes and to write a request for quotation (RFQ) that suppliers can price on the same basis.
What drives CCTV installation cost in Pakistan
| Cost driver | What changes the cost | Questions to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Camera count and placement | Number of views, mounting heights, poles and brackets | What must each camera achieve: identify a face, read a number plate or show general activity? |
| Camera type and specification | Dome, bullet, PTZ or fisheye; resolution; low-light, WDR and IR range; AI analytics | What are the lighting conditions by day and at night? |
| Architecture | IP cameras with an NVR, or HD-over-coax with a DVR or XVR | Is there existing coaxial cable worth reusing? |
| Recording and storage | Recorder channels, bitrate, retention days, RAID | How many days must footage be kept, and does a regulator set a minimum? |
| Cabling and network | Cable runs, PoE switches, conduit, trays, fibre between buildings | Is the building occupied or still under construction? |
| Outdoor protection | IP66 housings, IK10 vandal resistance, corrosion-resistant fixings | Is the site near the sea, or exposed to dust and heat? |
| Power backup | UPS capacity, PoE power budget, generator changeover | How long must the system keep recording during an outage? |
| Viewing and control room | Monitors, workstations, video wall, remote and mobile viewing | Who watches live, and from where? |
| Software and integration | VMS licences, analytics, links to access control and fire alarm | Which other systems must CCTV work with? |
| Maintenance | AMC visits, response times, disk replacement, spares | Who keeps it working after the warranty ends? |
1. Camera count, placement and purpose
Start with what each camera must achieve, not with a camera count. A camera that must identify faces at a gate needs a narrow view and plenty of pixels on the target; a camera giving an overview of a car park does not. A survey that marks every camera on the plan with its purpose (detect, observe, recognise or identify) produces a realistic count and stops a supplier quoting fewer, wider cameras that cannot identify anyone.
2. Camera type and specification
- Dome cameras suit indoor ceilings and corridors; vandal-resistant versions suit reachable positions.
- Bullet cameras suit outdoor walls and perimeters, and usually carry longer-range infrared (IR).
- PTZ cameras pan, tilt and zoom under operator control. They are useful in large open areas with a staffed control room, but a PTZ only looks at one place at a time, so it does not replace fixed cameras.
- Fisheye or panoramic cameras give a 180 or 360 degree overview of halls and atriums from one point.
Within each type, cost rises with resolution and sensor quality, low-light performance, true wide dynamic range (WDR) for entrances facing bright daylight, IR range for darkness, motorised varifocal lenses, and built-in analytics such as person and vehicle classification, line crossing or number-plate recognition. Higher resolution is not automatically better: it raises bitrate and storage. Resco supplies cameras and recorders from principals including Dahua, whose range includes AI-enabled camera lines.
3. IP or HD-over-coax
IP cameras carry video, power over Ethernet (PoE) and control on one network cable to a network video recorder (NVR) or video management system. HD-over-coax formats send high-definition video over coaxial cable to a DVR or hybrid XVR, which can make an upgrade cheaper where good coax is already in place. IP generally suits new buildings, larger and multi-site systems and analytics; HD-over-coax suits smaller sites and retrofits. Our guide to IP vs analogue CCTV compares the two in detail.
4. Recording and storage sizing
Storage is one of the largest and most often under-sized items. The sizing method is simple:
- Find each camera’s average bitrate in megabits per second (Mbps) at the resolution, frame rate and compression (H.264 or H.265) you will actually use.
- Multiply by 86,400 seconds in a day and divide by 8 to convert bits to bytes. In practice, bitrate × 10.8 gives gigabytes per day of continuous recording.
- Multiply by the number of cameras and the number of retention days.
- Adjust for the recording mode (continuous, scheduled or motion-triggered), then add headroom for busy or noisy night scenes and for RAID redundancy.
As a worked example, a camera averaging 4 Mbps and recording continuously uses about 43 GB a day, so 30 days for that one camera is roughly 1.3 TB before headroom. Storage scales in a straight line with retention: double the days and you double the disks. Real bitrates are often higher than datasheet figures, especially at night, so ask suppliers to state the bitrate, frame rate and retention assumptions behind their storage figure. Banks should also check State Bank of Pakistan requirements, summarised in our guide to SBP CCTV requirements for banks.
The recorder needs enough channels, bandwidth and disk bays for today’s cameras plus expansion; larger systems use servers and RAID storage arrays instead.
5. Cabling, PoE switches and containment
Each IP camera needs a network cable to a PoE switch, normally within about 100 metres on copper; longer runs need an intermediate switch, an extender or fibre. Switches must have enough total PoE power budget for every camera, including outdoor PTZ cameras with heaters and IR, which may need a higher PoE class. Conduit, trunking, cable trays, poles, trenching for perimeter runs and fibre between buildings can cost as much as the cameras on spread-out sites. Retrofits in occupied buildings cost more than work done during construction.
6. Outdoor housings and Karachi’s coastal climate
Outdoor cameras should be rated at least IP66 under IEC 60529, meaning dust-tight and protected against powerful water jets. Where cameras can be reached or attacked, specify IK10 impact resistance under IEC 62262, which corresponds to a 20 joule impact. In Karachi and other coastal sites, humid, salt-laden air corrodes ordinary steel brackets, screws and connectors, so ask for corrosion-resistant mounts and fixings, sealed junction boxes and weatherproofed cable entries. Heat and dust matter across Pakistan too: check each camera’s rated operating temperature and include lens and dome cleaning in the maintenance plan.
7. Power backup
Cameras that go dark when the power fails are of little use during the incidents that matter. Budget for a UPS sized for the recorders, switches and cameras over the backup time you need, and confirm how the system behaves during generator changeover.
8. Control room, video wall and remote viewing
Viewing can be a single monitor at a guard post, an operator workstation, or a full control room with a video wall. Each step adds displays, workstations and cabling. Remote viewing on mobile apps needs a secure internet connection and sensible user permissions, and viewing many sites from a head office needs network bandwidth and a platform that can manage many recorders. For dispersed enterprise sites, Resco uses Honeywell Digital Video Manager to bring cameras together with access and building control.
9. Licences, integration and maintenance
Some recorders include free client software; enterprise video management platforms are licensed per camera or channel, sometimes with extra licences for analytics, failover or mobile clients. Integration with access control (a camera pop-up on a forced door), the fire alarm or an intruder alarm adds licences and engineering time. The annual maintenance contract covers preventive visits, lens cleaning, disk health checks, firmware updates and fault response. Hard disks wear out, so ask whether replacements are included.
How to compare CCTV quotes line by line
- Camera positions drawn on a plan, with the purpose of each view.
- Camera model numbers with resolution, lens, IR range and WDR.
- Storage assumptions: bitrate, frame rate, codec, recording mode, retention days and RAID level.
- Recorder channels, spare capacity and disk count.
- Cable type, lengths, containment, poles and civil work.
- Outdoor housings, brackets and fixings.
- UPS capacity and backup time.
- Monitors, workstations or video wall, and remote viewing.
- Software licences and integrations.
- Installation, commissioning, training, as-built drawings, warranty and AMC terms.
What to put in your RFQ
- Site plans with the areas to cover marked, and what each camera must achieve.
- Lighting conditions by day and night, and any outdoor or coastal exposure.
- Required retention days and any regulatory requirement.
- Existing cabling, network and recorders that could be reused.
- Who will view live and recorded video, and from which locations.
- Integrations needed: access control, fire alarm, intruder alarm, BMS.
- Power situation and required backup time.
- Working-hour restrictions and AMC expectations.
The same approach applies to door security; see our guide to access control system cost factors. Resco carries out CCTV projects from its offices in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and our CCTV surveillance systems page explains what a Resco system covers.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest factor in CCTV installation cost in Pakistan?
Usually the number and type of cameras, followed by storage and installation work. Each camera adds a lens, a mount, cable, a switch or recorder port and disk space, and long cable runs, poles and civil work can cost as much as the cameras on spread-out sites.
How do I work out how much CCTV storage I need?
Multiply each camera’s average bitrate in Mbps by about 10.8 to get gigabytes per day of continuous recording, then multiply by the number of cameras and the retention days. Adjust for motion or scheduled recording and add headroom for busy night scenes and RAID.
Is IP CCTV more expensive than HD-over-coax?
IP cameras and NVRs often cost more per channel, but one network cable carries power and video, analytics are better and large systems scale more easily. HD-over-coax can be cheaper where good coaxial cable is already installed. The right answer depends on the site and the cabling you have.
Why do two CCTV quotes for the same camera count differ so much?
They rarely describe the same system. Look at camera models and resolution, retention days and bitrate assumptions, recorder capacity, cable and containment, outdoor housings, UPS, viewing equipment, licences and the AMC. Missing lines often reappear later as variations.
Since 1990, Resco has designed, supplied, installed and maintained security systems for organisations across Pakistan, with 24/7 operation and maintenance support. To get a CCTV quote built on your actual site, request a proposal, call +92 21 36378960-2 or email info@resco.com.pk.
