Zong Tops Mobile Data Speeds in Pakistan: PTA Survey

While Zong has come out as a clearer winner in data speeds, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s Quality of Service (QoS) survey has raised question marks on the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) while saying that call connection time of all the mobile operators is not satisfactory.

3G speeds of mobile operators is averaging below 2Mbps for Ufone and Telenor while Mobilink’s average 3G speed stood at 5.04Mbps and Zong topped the charts with 7.71Mbps of average 3G speeds on its network.

It won’t be out of place to mention that Telenor’s average speed for 3G network decreased from 2.2Mbps during PTA’s previous QoS survey to 1.94Mbps. However, Ufone, Mobilink and Zong were able to increase average speeds of their 3G networks since the last survey that was conducted last year.

PTA said that it carried out this comprehensive Quality of Service (QoS) Survey of 2G and 3G networks in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar to check voice and data QoS as per the required standards.

PTA said that its QoS Survey is in progress in other cities of Pakistan.

PTA didn’t survey 4G Networks this time.

Adhoc QoS survey results clearly indicate that operators 3G operators with 10MHz frequency spectrum is higher than that of the Internet data speed provided by 3G operators with 5MHz frequency spectrum.

More details in below graphs:

Also Read: Should PTA Adopt Web and App Based QoS Surveys for 3G and 4G Networks?

3G Speeds

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PTA, in its survey, found that data “throughput” of all 3G operators is higher than the benchmark set in their respective licenses.

Data throughput of Zong is the highest followed by Mobilink, whereas data throughput of Ufone is the lowest among all NGMS operators.

Signal Strength

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PTA’s QoS survey revealed that signal strength of all 3G/4G operators are above the benchmark indicating good coverage in majority of the covered areas.

The lower the value of signal strength on negative axis, the higher is the signal strength.

PTA noted that overall signal strength of Ufone and Telenor networks is comparatively better than those of Zong and Mobilink but because of more frequency spectrum used by Zong and Mobilink for 3G/4G networks, their quality is superior.

Network Accessibility – 2G Networks

Network Accessibility is the probability that mobile services are available to an end customer by display of network indicator on the mobile phone throughout the entire duration of usage.

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PTA found that Network Accessibility of all the mobile operators is satisfactory.

Grade of 2G Services

Grade of Service is probability that the end customer cannot access the mobile services when requested if it is offered by display of the network indicator on the mobile phone. In simple words, Grade of Service is Network Blocking

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All mobile operators are meeting the specified Grade of Service that’s obligated in their license terms.

Call Connection Time

Call Connection Time is the 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.

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According to PTA’s findings, the call connection time of all the mobile operators is not satisfactory and they need to do better in terms of connecting voice calls.

Call Completion Ratio

Call Completion Ratio is the probability that a service, once obtained, will continue to be provided under given conditions for a given time duration or until deliberately terminated by either caller (A-party) or receiver (B-party).

In simple words, this KPI provides information about Call Drops.

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Call Completion Ratio for Mobilink and Ufone is below the required standard, whereas other three mobile operators are meeting the standard.

End to End Speech Quality

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End-to-End Speech Quality of all the mobile operators is above the standard.

SMS Success Rate

SMS Success Rate is the probability that the short message is delivered successfully, end-to-end when requested and display of the relevant information on the mobile phone.

It provides information about successful delivery of SMS.

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PTA said that SMS success rate for Mobilink and Warid Telecom is below the standard, whereas other mobile operators are meeting the standard.

End to End SMS Delivery Time

End-to-End SMS Delivery Time is the time between sending a short message to a short message center and receiving the very same short message at intended mobile phone (receiver).

It provides average time taken for delivery of short message from sender to recipient.

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All mobile operators are meeting the standard for End-to-End SMS Delivery Time.


        • Zong’s Super card gives more data, sms and mins but unfortunately people don’t even know that due to their inferior marketing compared to Ufone..

              • That isn’t a super card. Ufone super card means rs 500 and that’s it. Zong’s All monthly offer in rs 500 means a recharge of rs 700.. Now you are doing some good marketing on Zong’s behalf

                • Seriously? I thought I made myself pretty clear when I said “inclusive of taxes”.. You only need to pay Rs 500.. That’s it.. Only 500! You give a note of Rs 500 to the retailer and he hands over an All in one monthly card to you or he will activate that on your number like easy load.. I’ve been using it for almost 6-8 months now.. And again.. You only pay Rs 500! Nothing more. Just like a ” Super Card”

                  • Thanks. That is really informative of you but If you check their website link there is no such details available. It is mentioned that you need to dial the service code and obviously if you are going to activate a prepaid offer by service code you need to have the required balance in your account that’s why the whole confusion occured. Zong really needs to update their website

          • it does not matter if ufone did the right marketing or not. Ufone introduced it earlier and also introduced cards for it last year. What makes ufone successful is that most people were already using ufone or had at least many of their contacts using it. And many even like this idea of 1000 PTCL minutes. So Ufone is just exploiting the situation which is its favor.

  • How much money have you got from ZONG for posting this fake details and said ZONG to top mobile network in Pakistan?

    • Acha tera favourite network top par nae aya to matlab paise liye hue hain author ne? Ajeeb dhakkan kism k logic na de

    • Sir, it’s pta saying this, not us. Story ko parhnay ki bhi zehmat kar Liya karain.

      • Aamir bhai, you are not supposed to answer such queries. Acha nahi lagta ap is tarah ki sawalon ke jab do.

      • Karachi k Bin Qasim Industrial Zone k aksar muqamaat per Zong ki 2G coverage bohat week hai 2007 se. june 2015 se asre mein rakha hua hai zong ne k tower lag rahe hain within few months mein signals sahi hojayen gay. 10 months gone kuch nhi hua

        • Karachi k bin qasim me service achi nahi iska matlab yeh nahi k pory Pakistan me service kharab hy, Industrial area se bahar bhi nikal kar dekhain Pakistan boht bara hy.

      • Its not surprising if some readers doubt a story you post since you guys never mention when you post a paid article/advertisement on your site. Every single reputable blog clearly mention when a story is a paid article/advertisement, you guys don’t.
        I’m not talking about this article but your reputation has been of sorts.

    • This lad is making absolutely a good point, being an Ex-Zong loyal customer I can say this for sure that all the details mentioned above about Zong are tempered. The data is consumed very fast because of higher pulse rate. Zong adverts annoy you to the point that you want to kills yourself. After SMS they start to call you daily. I mean seriously. I couldn’t bear it so I switched to Ufone. I am happy with one Super Card.

  • ZONG IS AWESOME .BUS SOUTH PUNJAB MEIN ISKI COVERAGE KAM HAI AUR 3G NHI HAI BUT I HOPE ZONG WILL SOON THERE.MOBILINK UFONE WORST.

  • I wonder how Telenor topped end-to-end speech quality chart and how PTA gave them satisfactory marks in almost every survey, whereas Telenor is the worst network in terms of quality these days!

    • Agreed 1000% telenor is worst operator and 100% ZTE equipment means it will remain worst untill they start investing in equipment and QoS. They are only investing in marketing and paying good to employee just to screw them to give more than 100% and saves money in total. Quality is never and priority of Telenor and Ufone as well.

  • Judging a network in the smallest metropolis couldn’t be the actual verdict. PTA should test the qualities of telecom services in Karachi and Lahore, the two biggest metropolis in Pakistan. Obviously in a population of 2 or 3 million you will get such hi end speed results compare to population 20 million. I am in khi and i get hardly 2mbps on zong where as at warid i get 5 – 11mbps and its all about number of consumers utilizing the network. Less users means hi speed and more users means low speed. Warid has 5mhz but less number of users plus ericsson that’s why it is able to maintain that hi speed and telenor has large number of consumers with 5mhz n chinese equipment so they r not able to provide hi class service. It’s just that simple. Soon when warid n mobilink will be merged than it will be the true war between zong and mobilink+warid. If any of one is going to acquire another 10mhz available spectrum will be the true winner or its high time for telenor or ufone to grab 4g if the want to remain in the game else the data war will be over

  • Here in gujrat zong coverage is very bad.and there speed is also not consistent.i used for 3 to 4 months but they did not co operated so had to leave their service…my own experience don’t know about other people…..

  • Judging by the high call connection time of zong and warid, it seems they did the testing on 4G network which resulted in high CS fallback time.

    • We also had to confirm this from PTA on same suspicion, but they said only 3G was tested.

      • SMS end to end delivery time of Warid and Zong are skewed compared to others and sending SMS while on LTE is pretty quick and guess which operators offer LTE.

      • How is it even possible to think it is on LTE? Both companies not providing VoLTE, so basically it is for 2G and 3G

        • I suppose that is the only reason for high call connection time because they are not providing VoLTE and when you are actually on LTE and as soon as a call is initiated, it first switches to 2G, that is why the call takes longer to connect. Is that so?

  • Hope PTA also tested in G-10/1, Islamabad, where QoS of Telenor & Mobilink was the worst in comparison to other operators as experienced sometime back!

  • An interesting thing that i would like to share about Warid’s Location based LTE offers. Recently warid introduce a bundle for new LTE users in isb/rwp and claimed that once subscribing to the offer it can be used irrespective of the location and this gives me an idea to subscribe to their offer being in khi. I tried the hyd monthly bundle and it dawned on me that i was able to succesfully utilize the mbs while being in khi. Though warid has a khi offer too but it is for selected areas and as i am not in those areas so upon trying to subscribe to khi LTE offer their system replied i am unable while i successfully subscribed hyd offer and used it too while being in khi. Also while checking remaining mbs via my warid app it shows all the offers in same window that might mean that its just that they are encourging the people of limited areas to subscribe to these offers while anyone can avail it anywhere so is there anyone in lhr etc who wanna give it a try??

  • Zong is best bcoz Zong is backed by world’s largest telecom company China mobile.

  • Ufone 3G/2G services are comparatively much better than other TELCOs especially in urban cities.

  • zong 3+4G speed used to be quite satisfactory but for last 3-4 months I am experiencing visible decline in speed and hardly getting 3-4MBS. I don’t know about whole country but here in Quetta it is the case.

  • Although I am Zong customer and I am truly satisfied with their quality but TBH Zong is overcharging for no reason. Warid LTE is probably better than Zong 4G; surprisingly it is also cheaper than Zong, which makes me wonder on what basis Zong is over charging its customers?

  • Well, Please share the locations where such survey conducted, so we definitely will check how an Operator providing such piece of art speed. It’s already deal btw PTA-CMO to conduct survey where speed is better, with less users in area.

    • Imagine if the situation is so worse in a city with 0.5 million than what would happen in khi which has a 20 million population. Warid is doing far better even with 5mhz spectrum because it has not lowered the price of its broadband to lure customers as always. Where as china is cheap in terms of price and quality both (not considering regular data packages as Zong is expensive there)

        • Yeah ok 2 million. A city with 2 million than what would happen in khi which has a 20 million population. Question is still the same?

  • Zong worst support ever. Forcing customers to use Zong sim to get customer support on mobile. Monthly package expires one day before the expiry date. Even in February where you have 28 days in the month and zong package expires after 27 days. No volume usage alerts.

  • нι gυуzzz мєкσ ααѕнιqι 2 мσνιє кє ѕσиgzz кє υтυиє ¢σ∂єѕ ¢нαнує

  • кσι нєℓρωα кαя∂є мαяα ѕαℓσσи zαяσяι ¢нαнує υтυиє ¢σ∂єѕ


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