Daily Times

KARACHI: Pak Telecom Mobile Limited PTML (Ufone) was the weakest among five telecom operators in a user data throughput (Internet speed) quality test, which was conducted recently in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

PTA has recently conducted a survey in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar to ascertain whether Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) and cellular mobile operators (CMO) operators are providing services as per key performance indicators (KPIs) set in their license and applicable regulations. According to PTA, in terms of providing Internet speed, Zong is the best, followed by Mobilink, whereas data throughput of Ufone is the lowest among all NGMS operators.

This KPI defines user data rate (Internet speed) to be provided by NGMS operators to mobile users across the coverage areas. The data throughput for all NGMS licensees was checked using NEMO Invex-I tool at Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar the results of which are as under KPIs set in their license and applicable regulations. The survey is in progress in other cities of Pakistan. User data “throughput” of all NGMS operators is higher than the benchmark set in their respective licenses, PTA added.

According to breakup, Zong led the battle of best Internet speed providers by providing 7.71 megabit per second (Mbps) Internet speed to its consumers while Mobilink stood second in the list succeeding to provide 5.04 Mbps to its subscribers in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

Contrary to their big claims, Telenor and Ufone were the weakest operators as compared to other operators, as Ufone could able to afford only 1.17 Mbps and Telenor with 1.94 Mbps too remained pathetic in terms of providing internet speed to its consumers in the said three big cities of Punjab and KP.

However, PTA, while reasoning the variation in quality of service (QoS) of signal strength and user data “throughput” state of all NGMS, states that though the overall signal strength of Ufone and Telenor networks is comparatively better than those of Zong and Mobilink but due to more frequency spectrum used by Zong and Mobilink for NGMS, their quality is superior.

PTA revealed that call completion ratio for Mobilink and Ufone is below the required standard, whereas other three mobile operators are meeting the standard. Similarly, SMS success rate for Mobilink and Warid Telecom is below the standard, whereas other mobile operators are meeting the standard.

All mobile operators are meeting the standard for end-to-end SMS delivery time. End-to-end speech quality of all the mobile operators is above the standard, states PTA in its recent QoS survey.

PTA disclosed that the call connection time of all the mobile operators is not satisfactory. All mobile operators are meeting grade of service, which is a “Call Connection Time’ between sending of complete call initiation information by the caller and in return receipt of call setup notification. In simple words, it is time between dialing a number and hearing ring-back tone. Network Accessibility of all the mobile operators is satisfactory. Signal strength of all the NGMS operators are above the benchmark revealing good coverage in majority of the covered areas. The lower the value of signal strength on negative axis, the higher is the signal strength, added PTA.