Telenor Named as ‘Worst’ Mobile Network in Pakistan: PTA Survey

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has carried out an independent independent Quality of Service (QoS) Survey during the 1st Quarter of 2024.

During the survey, the performance of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) has been assessed in accordance with the Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021.

The survey covered approximately 2,270 km traveling for each operator in 60 days to cover the maximum areas of surveyed cities. During
the survey 0.25 Million tests of Mobile Broadband, 45,000 Calls & SMS while 0.13 Million Ookla Speed tests were conducted.

Based upon the compliance level of each KPI in surveyed cities against the threshold defined in QoS Regulations, CMOs have been ranked
between 1st to 4th position in Mobile Network Coverage, Mobile Broadband, Voice and SMS Services. CMOs scoring 1st position in respective services are shown as:

During the survey, Quality of Service tests were conducted in the areas of Voice, Mobile Broadband (i.e. Data (Automode), Data (Ookla), Latency (Ookla) & Web Browsing), and Short Messaging Service (SMS).

According to the report, the PTA conducted  Quality of Service in 16 cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan from January 1 to March 31. “Survey routes were selected in a manner to cover the maximum population area of the respective surveyed cities,” it added.During the survey, 3G signal strength samples were also recorded on survey routes, wherever the network switched to 3G while keeping the mobile handset in technology auto-detect mode.

A total of 20,485 call attempts were made out of which, 339 were failed attempts. In 20,146 successful call attempts, 143 calls dropped prior to completion of two minutes duration, whereas, 20,003 calls remained connected for the complete duration of two minutes.

A total of 20,433 SMS sending attempts were conducted, out of which, 20,372 SMS were successfully transmitted by A-Party while 20,203 SMS were successfully received at B-Party. The 2 x SMS QoS KPIs (i.e. Success Rate and Delivery Time) have been measured while testing SMS services in the surveyed cities and operators met the KPI partially.