Pakistan’s telecom operators are falling short of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s network availability benchmark, with persistent power outages emerging as the main reason behind service disruptions across the country, the National Assembly was informed.
In a written reply, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja said the country’s cellular mobile operators are managing a vast nationwide network, but prolonged electricity failures are continuing to affect service availability.
According to Operations Support Systems data, average network availability stood at 98.1 percent for Telenor, 98.07 percent for Jazz, 97.6 percent for Ufone, and 96.86 percent for Zong. All four operators remained slightly below the PTA’s required threshold of 99 percent.
The minister said Pakistan currently has 57,044 Base Transceiver Stations deployed by major telecom operators to provide voice and broadband coverage in urban, rural, and remote areas. Despite this large network footprint, average site availability has remained below the regulatory benchmark because of extended commercial power outages.
Jazz operates the country’s largest telecom network with 16,247 BTS sites, including 16,247 2G and 16,003 4G towers, while its 3G infrastructure has been fully phased out. CMPak has 15,882 sites, including 15,882 2G, 15,688 3G, and 15,725 4G towers. Telenor Pakistan operates 13,034 sites, including 7,582 3G and 12,655 4G towers, while Ufone has 11,881 sites with 10,038 3G and 10,705 4G installations.
Despite lower network availability, the National Assembly was told that call completion rates remained above 98 percent, while mobile broadband throughput stayed above the 4 Mbps benchmark. Telenor recorded the highest average speed at 11.64 Mbps.
The minister said the telecom sector continues to face multiple operational challenges that are affecting service quality nationwide. The most serious issue remains unreliable power supply, which drains backup systems during long outages and directly reduces site availability.
She added that solar-powered systems also become less efficient in winter because of shorter daylight hours. In remote and mountainous areas, harsh weather, difficult terrain, and limited access make maintenance and restoration work more complicated.
The government also highlighted infrastructure and security issues facing operators. Frequent optical fiber cable cuts and disruptions in fiber-to-site connectivity continue to affect network backhaul and interrupt both voice and data services.
Telecom companies are also facing rising incidents of theft and vandalism involving batteries, fuel, fiber cables, and costly telecom equipment. At the same time, the lack of a one-window facilitation mechanism for right-of-way permissions has slowed network deployment and expansion in different parts of the country.
To monitor compliance with Quality of Service standards, the PTA conducted 379 QoS surveys over the last three years, including 243 scheduled quarterly assessments. During this period, the regulator issued five show-cause notices and 15 warning letters to telecom operators over service quality concerns.
Over the last five years, the PTA has issued 43 show-cause notices and imposed financial penalties totaling Rs. 68.9 million on operators found to be in violation of service standards.
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 rather than the PTA.
The government also outlined a number of measures being taken to improve telecom performance and connectivity standards. These include the planned expansion of 480 MHz spectrum to raise 4G speeds to as much as 20 Mbps and support future 5G services capable of reaching speeds of up to 50 Mbps.
The PTA has also directed operators to add 1,000 new sites each year, with 20 percent reserved for underserved areas through the Universal Service Fund. Other planned measures include shifting networks from 2G to 4G, gradually phasing out 3G, increasing the national fiberization ratio from 20 percent to 35 percent, and promoting infrastructure sharing and national roaming frameworks to reduce costs and improve service quality.
