The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has confirmed that around 9,000 mobile network sites across the country continue to face availability issues. These sites make up nearly 17% of the total mobile infrastructure. The problems are mainly caused by long electricity outages, limited access to commercial power, delays in obtaining Right of Way (RoW), and repeated incidents of theft and vandalism.
PTA stated that these challenges have reduced network quality in several regions. The most affected areas include Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan, where operators struggle to keep services stable.
Despite these difficulties, the authority’s latest performance review shows that cellular operators generally met service benchmarks between January and June 2025. The OSS KPI results for this period recorded an average call completion rate of 99.05% nationwide. Average data throughput reached 6.73 Mbps, which met the required levels. However, overall network availability stayed below the 99% standard because of the ongoing energy crisis and limited site access.
The authority also highlighted rising complaints from users. PTA received 8,003 service-related complaints during the first half of 2025 through its Complaint Management System. Out of these, 7,937 complaints were resolved, showing a resolution rate of over 99%.
To check service performance, the regulator carried out 89 planned surveys and 78 complaint-based surveys. These were conducted in major cities and along key routes, including highways, motorways, and railway tracks.
PTA said enforcement actions are in progress against operators that fail to meet service requirements. Non-compliance cases are being followed up to ensure quick corrections. The regulator also encouraged the public and local representatives to report areas with poor service, helping teams respond faster.
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Over the past five years, the authority has issued 39 show-cause notices and 17 warning letters to operators for service quality failures. These actions led to penalties worth Rs 68.9 million. So far, Rs 13.6 million has been recovered, while 11 cases remain under legal review.
