PTA ranks Zong top in Performance Test
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s latest quality-of-service drive across 17 cities and two intercity corridors ranked Zong first overall in mobile network coverage, voice and SMS performance, while Jazz led auto-mode download speeds in many locations, the regulator’s third-quarter report shows.
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PTA said its enforcement teams logged roughly 2,664 km over 74 days, executing about 46,000 voice/SMS checks and 0.33 million broadband samples under the Cellular Mobile Network QoS Regulations 2021.
City-level tables show Zong compliant in 15 of 19 areas for 4G coverage and topping voice/SMS standings; Jazz posted the highest auto-mode download throughput in 11 cities, with Zong dominant on uploads.
According to the same report, Ufone and Telenor trailed on several latency and coverage metrics, with hilly routes like Murree and Rawalpindi–Kallar Kahar exposing multi-operator non-compliance on 4G signal confidence and latency thresholds.
Detailed results indicate Zong placed first in overall 4G coverage and in third-party app download and upload throughput across most cities, while Telenor led on latency compliance in third-party testing and Jazz placed second overall on latency in auto-mode.
PTA’s webpage loading tests showed full compliance for Jazz and Ufone across 18–19 cities, ahead of Telenor and Zong. The survey evaluated KPIs including call setup success, call connection time, completion ratio, mean opinion score, and SMS delivery time, benchmarking against the 2021 QoS regulations.
The assessment lands as Pakistan’s telecom base crossed 200 million users, including about 150 million broadband subscriptions by June 20, 2025, underscoring rising data demand that stresses radio networks and backhaul. (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) PTA’s latest annual report put sector revenues at Rs955bn in FY24 with ARPU around Rs302/month, highlighting operators’ push toward data-led growth and network efficiency.
PTA Consolidation is also reshaping the landscape: on Oct. 1, 2025, the Competition Commission cleared PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan with conditions, a deal expected to influence spectrum holdings, tower access and QoS investment plans subject to regulatory undertakings.
While commercial 5G remains pending policy direction, the Ministry’s guidelines and PTA-permitted non-commercial trials suggest future QoS cycles will increasingly test for ultra-low-latency use cases and dense urban coverage.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said it will continue quarterly drives under the QoS framework to enforce compliance and nudge upgrades across coverage, throughput and service reliability, with the next rounds likely to track post-merger performance and data-traffic trends.
Meanwhile PTA in a statement said that PTA Conducts Quality of Service (QoS) Survey in Pakistan during 3rd Quarter 2025.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) conducted an independent Quality of Service (QoS) Survey across 17 cities and 2 road routes nationwide during the third quarter of 2025 (July–September) to evaluate the performance and service quality of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs).
Survey routes were strategically selected to include main roads, service lanes, and major residential and commercial areas. Using a state-of-the-art automated QoS Monitoring and Benchmarking Tool, mobile handsets were configured in technology auto-detect mode to test voice, SMS, and mobile broadband/data services. The assessment aimed to gauge compliance with Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) licenses and the Cellular Mobile Network QoS Regulations, 2021.
Based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), CMOs were ranked from 1st to 4th position in categories including Mobile Network Coverage, Voice Services, and Mobile Broadband Speed. Overall, operators generally met the standards for data upload and download speeds; however, certain voice KPIs fell below prescribed thresholds in some areas. Operators deploying advanced technologies such as LTE Carrier Aggregation and Voice over LTE (VoLTE) exhibited superior network performance.
PTA has directed all CMOs to implement corrective measures to enhance service quality. Detailed survey results are available on the PTA website (https://www.pta.gov.pk/assets/media/2025-10-30-Final-Report-24-10-2025.pdf).
