The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has released its Quality of Service survey for the second quarter of 2026, covering an assessment of 34 fixed line broadband operators across 24 major cities in Pakistan. The survey was designed to verify whether service providers are meeting regulatory benchmarks and consumer expectations around internet speed, network stability and customer support.
As part of the assessment, the authority physically tested 43 locations nationwide, with broadband operators achieving full compliance at 29 of those sites. However, several prominent telecom companies fell short of adequate service standards in various categories. On network availability, which measures total network downtime over a month, most operators stayed within acceptable limits, though Prime Broadband, Net Cloud, Pace Telecom and PTCL failed to meet the required 99.9 percent availability benchmark for their core nodes, while Net Cloud also failed to reach the 99 percent availability threshold required for its access nodes.
On bandwidth and speed, most operators kept their bandwidth utilization below the maximum 80 percent limit set by the regulator, though some providers continued to experience congestion severe enough to affect overall service quality. When it came to data throughput, where the authority requires a minimum download speed of 4 Mbps and upload speed of 2 Mbps, most operators cleared this threshold comfortably, but PTCL and NTC both failed to meet the minimum speed requirements during testing.
Latency and jitter, which directly affect real time activities such as gaming and video conferencing, also emerged as problem areas for several operators. The survey found significant local latency issues within the networks of PTCL, Kot Jameel Network and NTC, while NTC and Mansoorah Telecommunication struggled specifically with high latency on international segments, pointing to underlying routing and connectivity inefficiencies. Air Touch Wireless, PTCL, NTC and Kot Jameel Network also exceeded the acceptable jitter limit of 15 milliseconds. Following the survey results, PTA has directed all non compliant broadband providers to take immediate corrective measures, including improving network capacity, optimizing routing, and strengthening overall network resilience, with continued regulatory oversight expected to ensure operators bring their services in line with required quality standards going forward.
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