The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has published the results of the independent cellular Quality of Service (QoS) survey for the 4th quarter of 2020. Based on the results of the survey, some Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) were found to be providing below standard services and have been ordered to take corrective measures for improvement of voice, SMS, and data services up to the licensed standards, within 30 days.
PTA used a newly procured automated QoS monitoring and benchmarking tool – “Smart-Benchmarker” from 23rd November to 11th December 2020 in Kabirwala, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, and Peshawar to measure the performance and service quality of 2G (GSM), 3G (UMTS / HSPA+) and 4G (LTE) of CMOs.
All CMOs achieved the threshold value of minimum 256Kbps of 3G user data throughput in all surveyed cities. Except for Zong at Lahore, Peshawar & Kabirwala and Ufone at Quetta, all CMOs achieved the threshold value of minimum 2Mbps of 4G user data throughput in surveyed cities.
Jazz performed the best in terms of 4G user data throughput in all of the surveyed cities. Ufone seemingly performed the worst in this test. On the other hand, Ufone had on average the best performance in 3G user data throughput in all of the cities.
Jazz also took the lead in the Excellent 4G coverage category but trailed behind Zong in the Good 4G coverage category.
Image Source: WSB, PTA
