Major Telcos Fined Rs. 146 Million for Failing PTA Quality Test

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has imposed a total of Rs. 145.833 million in fines on three prominent telecom companies for not adhering to the established Quality of Service (QoS) standards across several cities. Telenor Pakistan incurred the largest fine of Rs. 68.055 million, followed by Pakistan Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) with Rs. 38.889 million and CMPak Limited (Zong) with Rs. 38.889 million. The operators were given a 30-day window to settle their penalties.

Upon conducting an independent QoS survey across 53 cities throughout 2025, the survey focused on evaluating voice, SMS, and mobile broadband services. The assessment revealed that Telenor Pakistan failed to meet the required QoS standards in Buner, Murree, Risalpur, Pindi Bhattian, and Matiari. Ufone was found non-compliant in Murree and Risalpur, while Zong fell short in Buner, Murree, Pindi Bhattian, and Matiari.

The PTA's follow-up re-verification surveys identified a range of issues, spanning from call setup and completion rates to SMS success rates, webpage loading times, latency, and mobile signal strength. The operators attempted to justify their results by pointing to factors such as terrain, power outages, operational issues, external interference, and technical discrepancies.

However, the PTA dismissed these explanations, asserting that any improvements made post-assessment could be considered mitigating measures but would not nullify the violations detected during the initial surveys.

In addition to the monetary penalties, the three operators were ordered to adhere to the QoS standards and submit technically backed compliance reports within a 30-day period. Non-compliance, according to the PTA, could trigger further legal actions.