The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has released its independent Quality of Service (QoS) survey for the first quarter of 2026. The regulator evaluated the performance of all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) under the Cellular Mobile Network QoS Regulations 2021. However, the final results reveal a striking reality. Not a single mobile operator in Pakistan, namely Jazz, Zong, Ufone, and Telenor, achieved 100% compliance across all measured key performance indicators (KPIs). Service quality gaps clearly persist across the country despite ongoing network expansions.
The extensive 75-day survey covered 18 distinct cities and required 2,705 kilometers of travel. Furthermore, the PTA team conducted 43,222 voice call and SMS tests alongside thousands of mobile broadband measurements. The regulator tested Jazz, Zong, Ufone, and Telenor against 216 specific KPIs. Consequently, the final data highlights clear winners and distinct losers in the telecom sector.
Jazz & Zong Dominate the Competition While Ufone & Telenor Lag
Jazz emerged as the best-performing mobile network operator in Pakistan. The company successfully complied with 205 out of 216 KPIs to achieve a 95% compliance score. Meanwhile, Zong secured a strong second place by meeting 200 KPIs, resulting in a 93% compliance score. In contrast, Ufone struggled to keep up, securing third place with an 89% compliance score by meeting 193 KPIs. Telenor delivered the weakest performance by far. Telenor has met only 169 KPIs, resulting in a failing 78% compliance rate.
City-wise metrics painted an identical picture of market dominance. Jazz ranked first in 13 out of the 18 surveyed locations, including major hubs like Rawalpindi, Karachi West, and Hyderabad. Zong led the charts in 4 cities, specifically dominating in Loralai, Malakwal, Sialkot, and Zhob. Strikingly, Ufone secured the top position in only a single city, which was Islamabad. Telenor failed to rank first in any of the 18 surveyed cities.
Network Performance: Voice, SMS & Data Throughput
All operators successfully met the regulatory benchmarks for 4G/LTE signal strength samples during auto-detect testing routes. However, mobile broadband performance varied drastically between networks. Jazz completely dominated download throughput speeds, securing the top spot in 13 cities under auto-mode testing and 11 cities during third-party app measurements. Conversely, Zong delivered the best upload performance across Pakistan. Zong claimed first place for uploads in 12 cities during auto-mode tests and in 11 cities via third-party apps.
Furthermore, latency remains a critical issue for user experience, and operators only partially met this non-service KPI. While Ufone recorded the lowest overall average latency at 68 ms, Jazz followed at 86.82 ms, Zong at 90 ms, and Telenor lagged at 108 ms.
For voice quality services, Zong took the crown by complying with 88 out of 90 voice quality indicators. Jazz followed with 86, Telenor with 83, and Ufone finished last with 78 compliant voice KPIs. Regarding SMS performance, Jazz claimed the highest compliance rate, followed closely by Zong, Ufone, and Telenor.
| Cellular Mobile Operator | KPI Compliance Count (Out of 216) | Overall Compliance Percentage (%) | National City Rankings (1st Place Finishes) |
| Jazz | 205 | 95% | 13 Cities |
| Zong | 200 | 93% | 4 Cities |
| Ufone | 193 | 89% | 1 City (Islamabad) |
| Telenor | 169 | 78% | 0 Cities |
Telenor Equipment Failure & City-Wise Breakdown
A significant anomaly occurred during the data collection process for Telenor. The PTA could not assess Telenor’s mobile broadband data performance in five specific cities: Swabi, Rawalpindi, Hub, Hyderabad, and Pir Mahal. Consequently, the regulator completely excluded Telenor’s data results from those locations. This exclusion happened because Telenor’s field testing equipment lacked the mandatory fixed-size measurement capabilities and third-party application features required under the PTA’s official survey methodology.
The final performance averages across all operators show exactly where each network stands regarding day-to-day user experience:
| Performance Metric (Overall Averages) | Jazz | Zong | Ufone | Telenor |
| Download Speed (Mbps) | 33.96 | 23.54 | 13.72 | 4.83 |
| Upload Speed (Mbps) | 20.47 | 22.55 | 12.85 | 3.33 |
| Network Latency (ms) | 86.82 | 90.0 | 68.0 | 108.0 |
| Call Setup Success Rate (%) | 99.4 | 99.2 | 97.2 | 98.2 |
| Call Completion Ratio (%) | 99.6 | 99.3 | 99.0 | 99.5 |
| Mean Opinion Score (1-5 Scale) | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
Ultimately, the PTA intended for this quarterly survey to highlight service deficiencies and enforce corrective actions aligned with global standards. The data shows that while Pakistani telecom operators generally pass basic benchmarks, massive infrastructural improvements must happen before the country’s mobile networks achieve true regulatory perfection.
