PTA to Approve Warid’s 4G LTE Launch After Inspecting Quality Standards

Warid_4G_Logo

[two_third]

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that it will allow Warid Telecom to launch 4G LTE in the country after getting satisfied with company’s Quality of Service KPIs for 4G network.

PTA, for the first since ProPakistani broke the story about Warid’s 4G plans, publicly admitted that it won’t have any issues with Warid’s 4G LTE deployments, but it will keep an eye on service KPIs and network rollout obligations to ensure that Warid’s customers – both 2G and 4G – aren’t offered with anything lesser than what they should get.

[/two_third]

[one_third_last]

Warid said that it will invest several hundred million dollars for 4G LTE network in Pakistani market with-in next couple of years.

[/one_third_last]

This washes out any possibility of PTA not allowing Warid for 4G LTE launch due to pressure from other cellular operators, who are reportedly not pleased with the situation.

—————————

Also Read:

—————————

Regulator’s agreement with Warid’s plan was first hinted when Warid published 4G LTE advertisements in major newspapers of the country last Friday.

At this point in time, Warid has already requested PTA to approve its plan for launching 4G LTE on its existing cellular mobile license issued in 2004.

PTA, in response, has asked Warid to submit detailed information and technical plan for 4G network for evaluation.

PTA, while confirming the fact that existing license of Warid is technology-neutral, said that Warid’s current license doesn’t say anything about Quality of Service (QoS) parameters and service Key Performance Indicator (KPIs) for the 4G / LTE services.

PTA emphasized that Warid will have to comply with the QoS parameters and KPIs laid down by PTA for the 4G / LTE services.

PTA said that it might change Warid’s existing Cellular Mobile Telephony License with additional requirements concerning 4G services before giving final approval.

Warid, on the other hands, has confirmed ProPakistani that it has already prepared all the details – relating to QoS and network specifications – as asked by PTA. After submitting these details in next few days, Warid is aiming to start testing 4G LTE services by last week of May 2014.

Warid said that it has aggressive plans pertaining to 4G deployments with investment of several hundred million dollars in Pakistani market with-in next couple of years. An official announcement for this is expected by May end.

Warid confirmed that it has lab tested 4G LTE services on its network. Company said that it is confident about providing all the necessary QoS KPIs as per standards set by the regulator.

Check below a screen for Warid’s 4G network with-in a lab in Lahore:

Warid 4G

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • 5 MB on LTE is pathetic. I was getting 3-7 MB on Telenor 3G a few weeks back. Shouldnt LTE be around 15-25 MBps?

    • I guess its the bandwidth. 15-25 Mbps data rate might have been possible with at least 10 MHz bandwidth. They have to split their existing bandwidth with 2G and 4G services.

      • Yar its far better then others who provide only 2 to 3 Mbps speed and also it will fall to .5 to .6 Mbps if all use it thats why 5 Mbps is far better then others.

  • Good bye to auction of 2nd 4G license! Zong must be very upset with this news…. The only 4G network…..:) I suggest PTA should now focus on offering spectrum to WLL/Wi-max operators for data services.

  • Warid would not be able to launch 4G LTE commercially due to PTA rollout obligations. To launch 4G warid requires at least $800 million and a compnay which is in debt of millions of dollars can never do this. Warid may face PTA restrictions as they have not even launched 2G in rural. Actually Warid is buying time to stop churns & eventually someone is going to buy Warid very soon… :)

    • Can you please explain that why would they need 800 million dollars to launch 4G?

      • Sure. To launch 4G Warid has to go through a massive rollout up-gradations of the access and core network etc. And 4G rollout is time bound so Warid would not only upgrade their network but they have to install new sites as well to provide coverage (One new site construction till ON_Air cost 45 million PKrs). Moreover LTE equipment is five times costly than 2G equipment…. I hope you got the point

        • Warid’s more than 150 sites are 4G ready sites in major cities like Lahore, Pindi, Islamabad, and Faisalabad etc,

        • 45m? Did i read it correctly or its a typo? LTE will be rolled out on existing sites and keep in mind Warid has not many shared sites like other operators therefore sharing on existing sites will not be an issue. Having said that, they will surely need more sites as the coverage umbrella needs to be reduced for existing sites due to spectrum limitations. However, it will not result in adding hundreds of new sites. Lastly, it generally take 4.5m is passive infra cost and active cost will depend on number of sites but in any case for 500 sites, i dont see it going beyond 100m USD. A

    • @aamir7:disqus: I have seen this in Warid Lahore office last tuesday 29th of April. Also this is only image which is available publicly. If some have any other image.

  • I love Warid… becuase a muslim network and thier network quality is great.

  • What out of 150 mbits/s just 5.22 mbits/s and PTA approved it Meh! I bet even Ufone’s 3G speed will be higher than that.

  • After two or three months deployment of full services 3G/4G there will be actual speed test, in Pakistan every new coming service is best, but after a period …………….

  • @ Aamir Atta… Pls confirm what spectrum Warid will be allocating to 4GLTE & how it will full fll the speed requirement of 4G ?
    Since Mobilink is on 10Mhz, Zong 10Mhz+ 10Mhz, ufone & Telenor on 5 Mhz

  • Salam my pakistani fellows. . I am trying to enable 3g service in my Iphone 4s (jail break) but I am unable to do that. . Kindly, any Iphone 4s user who are using this service in his Iphone then please tell me the whole procedure of setting .. My email address [email protected] your help will be highly appreciated. .. Thanks so much


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >