The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has confirmed that roughly 9,000 mobile network sites, around 17% of the country’s total, are currently facing service disruptions due to extended power outages, limited access to commercial electricity, delays in securing Right of Way (RoW), and incidents of theft and vandalism.
These challenges have particularly affected regions like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan, impacting network quality despite operators generally meeting service benchmarks. According to PTA data, nationwide call completion averaged 99.05% and data throughput 6.73 Mbps between January and June 2025, but network availability remained below the 99% standard due to energy shortages and site access issues.
The PTA reported 8,003 complaints about coverage and service quality in the first half of 2025, resolving 99.17% of them.
“Operators are being closely monitored and enforced to correct deficiencies,” the authority stated, emphasizing public cooperation in reporting trouble spots.
Over the past five years, penalties totaling Rs 68.9 million have been issued to operators failing service standards, though 11 cases are still under litigation.
The authority’s ongoing inspections and corrective measures aim to ensure better mobile service delivery across Pakistan, highlighting the critical need for reliable electricity and infrastructure access to support telecom growth.