August 03, 2021

PTA Conducts QoS Survey in Punjab, KP and Balochistan

Islamabad (August 03, 2021): Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has carried out an independent Quality of Service (QoS) Survey in 12 cities and 12 motorways/highways/inter-city roads of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan with the aim to measure the performance and service quality of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs). The survey activity is part of the plan for QoS Surveys 2021 and is a continuous exercise in-line with the vision of Prime Minister of Pakistan to provide quality services to public/subscribers.

During the survey, the licensed KPIs of voice, network coverage, SMS and mobile broadband/data were checked using automated QoS Monitoring & Benchmarking Tool "SmartBenchmarker”. The Drive test teams selected survey routes in such a manner to cover main roads, service roads and majority of sectors/colonies in surveyed areas.

Based upon the compliance level of each KPI as compared to the threshold defined in their respective licenses and QoS regulations, CMOs have been ranked between 1st to 4th position in each category i.e. Mobile Network Coverage, Voice service and SMS service in surveyed cities and motorways/highways. Similarly, in Mobile Broadband Speed segment, the ranking is with respect to the highest data download speed.

As per the survey results, compliance level in broadband services is better while some issues have been observed in SMS and voice KPIs. The operators have been directed to take corrective measures for improving the service quality upto the licensed standards. The survey results have been placed at PTA’s website (https://pta.gov.pk/en/consumer-support/qos-survey/qos-survey) for information of the subscribers.

By making this survey public, PTA is spurring competition among the operators to improve their existing infrastructure with an ultimate aim to increase the overall country-wide mobile service quality.