Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) conducted Quality of Service (QoS) surveys in 19 cities of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan, and in Islamabad Capital Territory to measure the performance and quality of services offered by Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) to customers. During the survey, in accordance with Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses and Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations, 2021; mobile network coverage, QoS KPIs of Voice, SMS and mobile broadband were checked using state-of-the-art automated QoS Monitoring & Benchmarking Tool. The drive test teams selected survey routes to cover main roads, service roads and majority of sectors/colonies in surveyed areas. Based upon the compliance level of each KPI against threshold defined in the respective licenses and QoS Regulations, CMOs have been ranked between 1st to 4th position in Mobile Network Coverage and Voice Services as per compliance level in surveyed cities. Similarly, in Mobile Broadband Speed segment, the ranking is with respect to the highest data download & upload speed, network latency and webpage loading time.

The survey results revealed that CMOs are compliant with respect to upload and download speed to a great extent, while improvement is observed in network latency and webpage loading time as compared to earlier surveys. Moreover, some of the Voice KPIs have been found below the licensed threshold in few areas. Necessary instructions have been issued to the operators for taking corrective measures so as to ensure improvement in the service quality upto standards. The survey results are available at PTA’s website (https://pta.gov.pk/en/consumer-support/qos-survey/qos-survey). PTA field teams are diligently conducting service quality monitoring activities with the objective of urging mobile operators for provision of better mobile services and foster a competitive environment among them.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)