Pakistan’s cellular mobile operators are running a large nationwide telecom network, but persistent power outages are affecting service availability across the country, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja informed the National Assembly in a written reply.
Operations Support Systems (OSS) parameters showed average network availability at 98.1 percent for Telenor, 98.07 percent for Jazz, 97.6 percent for Ufone, and 96.86 percent for Zong. All remained slightly below the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s required 99 percent threshold.
According to the minister, Pakistan currently has a total of 57,044 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) deployed by major telecom operators to provide voice and broadband coverage in urban, rural, and remote areas. Despite the large-scale network expansion, average site availability has remained slightly below the regulatory benchmark due to prolonged commercial electricity failures.
The minister shared an operator-wise breakdown of telecom infrastructure. Jazz operates the largest network footprint with 16,247 BTS sites, including 16,247 2G and 16,003 4G towers, while it has completely phased out 3G infrastructure.
CMPak follows with 15,882 total sites comprising 15,882 2G, 15,688 3G, and 15,725 4G towers.
Telenor Pakistan maintains 13,034 sites, including 7,582 3G and 12,655 4G towers, while Ufone operates 11,881 sites with 10,038 3G and 10,705 4G installations.
However, call completion rates stayed above 98 percent, while mobile broadband throughput exceeded the 4 Mbps benchmark. Telenor recorded the highest average speed at 11.64 Mbps.
The National Assembly was informed that the telecom sector continues to face serious operational challenges affecting service quality nationwide. The most critical issue remains unreliable commercial power supply, which exhausts backup systems during prolonged outages and directly impacts site availability.
During the winter months, operators also face reduced efficiency of solar-powered systems because of limited sunlight hours. In remote and mountainous regions, harsh weather conditions, difficult terrain, and restricted accessibility further complicate maintenance and restoration work.
The minister further stated that telecom companies are also dealing with infrastructure and security-related challenges. Frequent Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) cuts and disruptions in fiber-to-site connectivity continue to affect network backhaul and interrupt voice and data services.
Operators are also facing increasing incidents of theft and vandalism involving batteries, fuel supplies, fiber cables, and expensive telecom equipment. In addition, the absence of a streamlined one-window facilitation mechanism for obtaining right-of-way (RoW) permissions has delayed network deployment and expansion projects across different parts of the country.
To ensure compliance with Quality of Service (QoS) standards, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority conducted 379 QoS surveys during the last three years, including 243 scheduled quarterly assessments.
The regulator issued five show-cause notices and 15 warning letters to telecom operators over service quality concerns during this period. Over the last five years, PTA imposed 43 show-cause notices and financial penalties totaling Rs. 68.9 million on non-compliant operators.
Responding to another parliamentary question, the minister clarified that taxation on internet and telecom packages falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Board of Revenue and not the PTA.
The government also outlined several measures being implemented by the PTA to improve connectivity standards and address telecom performance gaps. These include the planned expansion of 480 MHz spectrum to improve 4G speeds up to 20 Mbps and support future 5G services capable of delivering speeds of up to 50 Mbps.
The PTA has also directed operators to deploy 1,000 additional sites annually, with 20 percent reserved for underserved areas through the Universal Service Fund.
Other measures include transitioning networks from 2G to 4G, gradually phasing out 3G technology, increasing the national fiberization ratio from 20 percent to 35 percent, and promoting infrastructure sharing and national roaming frameworks to reduce operational costs and improve user experience nationwide.
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