The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has conducted an independent Quality of Service (QoS) survey to evaluate the performance and quality of services provided by Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) across Pakistan. The survey covered 15 cities and 8 major motorways and highways, and also included a joint QoS survey in 4 cities and on 1 road in Azad Jammu & Kashmir during the first quarter of 2025.
Survey routes were designed to encompass main roads, service roads, and various sectors/colonies. Using mobile handsets in technology auto-detect mode, voice calls, SMS, and mobile broadband/data sessions were performed with a state-of-the-art automated QoS Monitoring and Benchmarking Tool. This helped assess compliance with the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) licenses and the Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations, 2021.
Based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each surveyed area, CMOs were ranked on mobile network coverage and voice services. In the mobile broadband segment, rankings were determined by factors such as data download and upload speeds, network latency, and webpage loading times.
The survey results showed that most CMOs were compliant with upload and download speed requirements. However, some voice KPIs fell below the licensed threshold in certain areas. CMOs using advanced network technologies, such as LTE Carrier Aggregation and Voice over LTE (VoLTE), were found to provide superior service quality.
PTA has instructed operators to take corrective actions to improve their service standards. The detailed results of the survey have been published on the PTA’s official website.
