PTA Denies Telcos’ Demands of Providing Relaxations on QoS Parameters

According to official sources, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has denied the request of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) for a moratorium on quality of services (QoS) due to concerns that it would negatively impact network quality and user experience. In place of a moratorium, the PTA believes network optimization and the availability of appropriate equipment can address the issues experienced by operators.

In addition, the CMOs proposed a moratorium on the Universal Service Fund (USF), a cut in the R&D money, and a floor price increase mechanism for voice and data. According to Section 4(d) of the Pakistan Telecommunication Re-organization Act, 1996, PTA’s principal duty is to promote the availability of high-quality, efficient, and competitive telecommunication services throughout Pakistan.

PTA has implemented the NGMS licenses and Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021 to ensure that mobile operators adhere to minimal QoS standards for voice and mobile broadband. PTA has already facilitated and reduced key QoS standards, including call setup time and user data throughput. The facilitations offered by the telecom regulator are as follows:

• Call Setup Time has been increased from 6.5 to 7.5 seconds to account for the additional setup time necessary in Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB) situations.
• The minimum User Data Throughput objective is being raised from 2Mbps to 4Mbps for 40 users and from 256Kbps to 1Mbps for 30 users in a phased manner: (a) Within a period of two years in Pakistan (b) Within a period of three years for 3G and four years for 4G in AJK & GB
• In areas with 4G mobile broadband service, 3G mobile broadband is not tested.

PTA performs monthly assessments of all CMOs to maintain QoS standards, and current licenses awarded to CMOs require them to provide a minimum average throughput of 4 Mbps for data services by March 2024. Despite the fact that CMOs are typically meeting QoS standards for NGMS services, there are still significant problems with voice KPIs. PTA believes that its laws and processes are sufficient to guarantee that users receive the highest quality service available.

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