Pakistan’s fixed broadband networks continue to suffer from quality-of-service deficiencies, with inadequate upload speeds, network congestion, excessive latency, jitter and packet losses undermining service delivery in several cities, according to a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) survey for the third quarter of 2026.
The two surveys, covering 12 broadband operators in 15 cities at the user end and 23 unique operators across 21 cities at the network end during July–September 2026, identified multiple violations of prescribed quality benchmarks under the Fixed Broadband Quality of Service Regulations, 2022.
The user-end assessment found Multinet Pakistan’s Rawalpindi operation among the worst performers, meeting only two of eight prescribed quality indicators, with a compliance score of 25%. Cyber Internet Services also recorded weak performance in Lahore, with a compliance score of 37.5%, while its Islamabad operation achieved only 50%.
At the network end, Pace Telecom and Broadcasting (Pvt) Ltd recorded the lowest compliance score of 57.14% in Abbottabad, failing to meet prescribed core and access network availability standards. Its core network availability stood at 99.73% against the required 99.9%, while access network availability was 97.13% against the benchmark of 99%.
The regulator also flagged Falcon Broadband in Vehari for recording jitter of 40.61 milliseconds, substantially above the prescribed maximum of 15 milliseconds. The user-end survey identified upload throughput as one of the most widespread weaknesses, with several operators failing to deliver speeds in line with regulatory requirements.
Under PTA standards, upload speeds must remain at least 25% of advertised package speeds for xDSL connections and above 50% for other technologies, while download speeds must exceed 80% of advertised package speeds.
Multinet, Cyber Internet, Connect Communications, Nexlinx Networks, PTCL, Naya Tel and Burak Tech were among the operators identified for deficiencies in download throughput.
Network performance problems extended beyond speed. Multinet, NTC, Cyber Internet and PTCL recorded deficiencies in local network latency, while Multinet also failed the international terrestrial latency benchmark.
PTCL, NTC, Cyber Internet, Nexlinx and Multinet were flagged for excessive jitter, while Cyber Internet, PTCL, Connect Communications, Naya Tel, Multinet and SCO recorded packet-loss deficiencies against the maximum permissible threshold of 1%.
Cyber Internet and Nexlinx also exceeded the prescribed four-second webpage loading benchmark at locations covered by the survey.
The network-end assessment, however, presented a relatively better picture, with all surveyed operators meeting prescribed local and international latency thresholds and minimum throughput requirements of four megabits per second for downloads and two megabits per second for uploads.
Nevertheless, bandwidth utilisation exceeded the regulatory threshold of 80% in some networks, raising concerns about congestion and reduced internet speeds during peak traffic hours.
The PTA’s network-end assessment showed that 16 of 28 city-operator entries achieved full compliance across seven performance indicators, while the remaining entries recorded compliance scores ranging between 57.14% and 85.71%. Wide Band Communications in Peshawar was the only operator in the user-end survey to achieve full compliance across all eight indicators.
The PTA said the surveys were conducted by its Enforcement Division through field testing and inspections of network operation centres to assess actual service quality, network reliability and compliance with regulatory standards.
The regulator has asked non-compliant operators to undertake corrective measures, including capacity enhancement, network optimisation, congestion management, improved routing, enhanced network availability and jitter reduction.
Follow-up testing will be conducted to verify whether the operators have addressed the identified deficiencies.
