Mobile Network Experience Report Pakistan February 2021

Pakistan

Mobile Network Experience Report
February 2021

Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.

Author
Hardik Khatri Technical Analyst

Key Findings

Zong wins the majority of Opensignal awards

Winning five out of seven award categories outright, Zong once again dominated the mobile network experience awards for Pakistan. The operator came top on Video Experience, Games Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience. Furthermore, Zong also became the joint winner with Jazz for Voice App Experience and Download Speed Experience. This shows that Zong is the operator to beat when it comes to Pakistan’s mobile network experience.

Zong is the winner of Opensignal’s Video Experience award

Once again, Zong won our Video Experience award and retained a Good rating, with a score of 58.8 points (out of 100) — an improvement of 1.4 points since the last report. That said, the biggest improvement of 2.7 points was reported by our Jazz users, which not only pushed their Video Experience rating from Fair to Good but also nibbled into Zong’s sizable lead — from 4.3 points down to three points. Meanwhile, Telenor and Ufone’s users reported a slight decline (0.9-1.2 points) and continued to place in the Fair category. This means our Pakistani users connected to Zong and Jazz enjoyed faster video load times and fewer interruptions during playback while streaming videos on their smartphone using mobile data services, compared to their peers on Ufone or Telenor.

Zong sweeps away our Games Experience award

Zong won our Games Experience award with a score of 34.9 points, while Jazz (34.3), Telenor (34.1) and Ufone (33.6) trailed very closely behind. For our users on all four operators playing multiplayer mobile games over wireless networks remains challenging for our users in Pakistan and that there is considerable room for improvement in this measure of the mobile experience.

Jazz forces a tie with Zong on Download Speed Experience

Last time around, Zong won our Download Speed Experience award outright, but this time it has been forced to share the top spot with Jazz. This is because our users, on average, experienced 1.8 Mbps (17.7%) faster download speeds on Jazz’s network and 1.3 Mbps (11.5%) faster speeds on Zong’s network, compared to six months ago. However, both operators are head and shoulders above Ufone and Telenor in this regard, with Download Speed Experience scores that are at least 7.4-8.4 Mbps (148.1%-218%) higher.

Zong pushes further ahead of the pack on Upload Speed Experience

In our last report, Zong had a modest lead of 0.3 Mbps (6.2%) over second-placed Jazz in Upload Speed Experience. This time, our Zong users clocked up average upload speeds of 5 Mbps — 0.6 Mbps (12.8%) higher than those observed last time around. As Ufone and Telenor’s scores only rose by 0.1-0.2 Mbps, respectively, Zong’s lead rose by 0.3 Mbps to 0.6 Mbps and its score is 14.4% higher than Jazz’s score of 4.4 Mbps.

Zong users experience the highest 4G Availability in Pakistan

Our Pakistani users across three national networks —Jazz, Zong and Telenor, saw a modest increase in the proportion of time that they spent connected to 4G services — 4G Availability — with the three operators’ scores rising by 1.5-1.9 percentage points since our last report, while Ufone’s score dipped by 0.5 percentage points. As a result of this, Zong inched closer to the 90% milestone and won our 4G Availability award with a score of 88.1%, while its peers Jazz (83.2%) and Telenor (79.2%) were yet to surpass the 85% and 80% mark respectively. Ufone trailed some way behind with a score of 64.9%.

Introduction

In our latest look at the mobile network experience in Pakistan, Zong continues to hold the lion’s share of our awards, having held onto Video Experience, Upload Speed Experience, 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience, as well as now winning Games Experience. As far as the award table is concerned, the only other changes since our last report in July are that Jazz and Zong are now joint winners for Voice App Experience and Download Speed Experience.

Compared to our previous report, our users on most networks have reported an uplift in their mobile network experience — except our Ufone users who saw declines in five out of seven metrics. Users saw significant improvements on our speed metrics — Download Speed Experience (1.9% to 17.7%) and Upload Speed Experience (4.8% to 13.9%) — as well as our 4G Availability (2.1-2.5 percentage points) and 4G Coverage Experience (2.1% to 7.2%) metrics.

Our data also shows there is a lot of room for improvement on our experiential measures, especially Games Experience and Voice App Experience. The typical Voice App Experience of our Pakistani users ranges from Poor to Very Poor, while their Games Experience is Very Poor across all four operators. With the increasing usage of OTT voice app services and multiplayer mobile gaming in Pakistan, these experiential measures are becoming an increasingly important aspect of users’ mobile network experience.

In the future, as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is reportedly planning to auction spectrum in 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz band, it will be interesting to see how this will alter the country’s mobile experience landscape.

In this report, we've analyzed our data gathered in the 90 days ending on 29 December 2020 to see how Pakistan’s four national operators — Jazz, Ufone, Zong and Telenor — measure up. As this period includes the introduction of COVID-19 measures (partial lockdown) in some parts of the country, it also indicates to what degree the country’s mobile experience has weathered the resulting changes in people’s data consumption habits and locations. Overall the mobile experience in Pakistan has been largely resilient given the challenges everyone has been facing since 2020.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Pakistan
February 2021, Pakistan Report
Video Experience
Games Experience
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Upload Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Download Image
Mobile Experience Awards Winners
February 2021, Pakistan
Video Experience
Games Experience
Upload Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
February 2021, Pakistan
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
Download Image

Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
55.7
Ufone
49.5
Zong
58.8
Telenor
40.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

National Analysis

Video Experience

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
55.7
Ufone
49.5
Zong
58.8
Telenor
40.7
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Video Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Video Experience
61.9 (± 0.45) 54.9 (± 1.21) 64.8 (± 0.46) 43.1 (± 0.93)
3G Video Experience
38.6 (± 1.21) 45.9 (± 1.29) 34.1 (± 2.04) 35.7 (± 1.68)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
62 (± 0.45)
55 (± 1.21)
65 (± 0.46)
43 (± 0.93)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
39 (± 1.21)
46 (± 1.29)
34 (± 2.04)
36 (± 1.68)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Games Experience

Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
34.3
Ufone
33.6
Zong
34.9
Telenor
34.1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Games Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Games Experience
35.9 (± 0.08) 35.6 (± 0.28) 36.2 (± 0.11) 34.9 (± 0.10)
3G Games Experience
30.2 (± 0.20) 32.4 (± 0.24) 29.9 (± 0.24) 32.6 (± 0.19)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Games Experience in 0-100 points
36 (± 0.08)
36 (± 0.28)
36 (± 0.11)
35 (± 0.10)
3G Games Experience in 0-100 points
30 (± 0.20)
32 (± 0.24)
30 (± 0.24)
33 (± 0.19)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Voice App Experience

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
68.0
Ufone
65.1
Zong
68.1
Telenor
66.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Voice App Experience
Additional Metrics
in 0-100 points
4G Voice App Experience
71.3 (± 0.21) 69.0 (± 0.70) 70.8 (± 0.25) 67.4 (± 0.38)
3G Voice App Experience
58.9 (± 0.63) 62.6 (± 0.72) 57.0 (± 0.86) 63.6 (± 0.68)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
71 (± 0.21)
69 (± 0.70)
71 (± 0.25)
67 (± 0.38)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
59 (± 0.63)
63 (± 0.72)
57 (± 0.86)
64 (± 0.68)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Download Speed Experience

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Jazz
12.2
Ufone
4.9
Zong
12.2
Telenor
3.8
03.757.511.2515
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
15.3 (± 0.18) 5.9 (± 0.15) 14.4 (± 0.16) 4.0 (± 0.07)
3G Download Speed
3.7 (± 0.07) 4.3 (± 0.08) 3.3 (± 0.11) 3.5 (± 0.09)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
15 (± 0.18)
6 (± 0.15)
14 (± 0.16)
4 (± 0.07)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
4 (± 0.07)
4 (± 0.08)
3 (± 0.11)
4 (± 0.09)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

Upload Speed Experience

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Jazz
4.4
Ufone
1.8
Zong
5.0
Telenor
2.0
01.8753.755.6257.5
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
5.7 (± 0.07) 2.4 (± 0.07) 6.0 (± 0.08) 2.4 (± 0.04)
3G Upload Speed
0.8 (± 0.02) 1.3 (± 0.04) 1.0 (± 0.04) 1.1 (± 0.03)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
6 (± 0.07)
2 (± 0.07)
6 (± 0.08)
2 (± 0.04)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
1 (± 0.02)
1 (± 0.04)
1 (± 0.04)
1 (± 0.03)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2021 | © Opensignal Inc.

4G Availability

4G Availability
% of time
Jazz
83.2
Ufone
64.9
Zong
88.1
Telenor
79.2
022.54567.590
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Jazz
5.1
Ufone
2.2
Zong
5.8
Telenor
5.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Learn more

Opensignal measures the real-world experience of consumers on mobile networks in the places they live, work and travel.

We continually adapt our methodology to best represent the true experience of smartphone users. Therefore, comparisons of the results to past reports should be considered indicative only.

For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple winners.

In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars. In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.

More about Methodology

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For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.

In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.

In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.

Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience