CMOs miss most of KPIs, asked to take corrective measures

ISLAMABAD: The cellular mobile operators (CMOs) have missed most of the key performance indicators (KPIs) set in their licences and the applicable regulations with respect webpage loading time, voice and latency, an independent survey about quality of service (QoS) carried out by the Pakistan Telecommuni-cation Authority (PTA) has revealed.

The authority issued necessary instructions to the operators for taking corrective measures so as to ensure improvement in the service quality up to standards.

The PTA conducted QoS surveys in 19 cities of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Balochistan, and the Islamabad Capital Territory to measure the performance and quality of services offered by the CMOs to customers.

During the survey, in accordance with Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licences and Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations, 2021; mobile network coverage, QoS KPIs of Voice, SMS and mobile broadband were checked using state-of-the-art automated QoS Monitoring and Benchmarking Tool.

The survey results revealed the CMOs are compliant with respect to upload and download speed to a great extent, while improvement is observed in network latency and webpage loading time as compared to earlier surveys. Moreover, some of the Voice KPIs have been found below the licensed threshold in a few areas.

As per Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021, licensees are required to meet threshold of 75 milliseconds of 4G/LTE Technology and 150 milliseconds of 3G Technology of Latency. In comparison with earlier surveys, the CMOs have improved the network latency however; results in several cities remain below the benchmark.

As per QoS Regulations 2021, licencees are required to meet webpage loading time threshold of five seconds.

However, the CMOs have failed to comply with this KPI in most of the cities.

During the survey, while conducting data test in technology auto detect mode as well as locked mode, 4G/LTE signal strength samples were recorded on survey routes.

As per Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses, licensees are required to meet the threshold of -100 dBm or above of Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) with 90% confidence level, however, no operator met this benchmark in all surveyed cities.

Industry sources, however, said the telecom industry in Pakistan was facing serious challenges, especially after the last year’s floods and problem of Letters of Credit, which are hampering the implementation of projects and resulting in the degrading of services.

The current economic meltdown and related liquidity issues have forced telecom companies to opt for cost cuttings and facing challenges in upgrading their capacity to meet demands, sources added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023