Mobile Network Experience Report Pakistan February 2022

Pakistan

Mobile Network Experience Report
February 2022

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

Speeds on Ufone have doubled, but Jazz is the new winner of Download Speed Experience.

Our Ufone users saw their average download speeds rise by 5.2 Mbps — 112.4% faster than the July 2021 report. At the same time, Jazz users saw a slight improvement of 0.8 Mbps, while those on Zong recorded a slight decline of 0.7 Mbps. As a result, Jazz places top for Download Speed Experience in Pakistan with 11.5 Mbps, closely followed by Zong and Ufone with 10.8 Mbps and 9.9 Mbps, respectively. On the other hand, Telenor users didn't report any statistically significant change in their Download Speed Experience that averaged 3.8 Mbps.

Jazz and Zong now share the Games Experience award

Previously, three Pakistani operators ended up in a three-way statistical tie for the Games Experience award, but Jazz and Zong are the joint-winners this time around. We continue to see a close competition on this measure, with just 1.3 points separating all four operators, as Telenor and Ufone trailed closely behind with statistically tied scores of 35 and 34.6 points, respectively. These scores suggest that playing multiplayer mobile games over wireless networks is challenging for our users in Pakistan.

Jazz wins the Voice App Experience award

After sharing the Voice App Experience award in our last report, Jazz is now the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award with a score of 69.9 points (out of 100) — a lead of 2.8 points over Zong. Meanwhile, Telenor and Ufone tread behind with scores of 65.9 and 65.7 points, respectively. Opensignal's Voice App Experience assesses the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger etc.

Zong retains the top spot in 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience

Zong once again claims the 4G Availability award, as our users on its network continue to spend the highest proportion of time with a 4G connection — 84.4% of the time, followed by those on Jazz and Telenor with statistically tied scores of 81.5% and 82%, respectively. Zong also wins the 4G Coverage Experience award with a score of 5.9 points (on a scale of 0-10) against Jazz and Telenor's scores of 5.3 and 5.2 points, respectively. 4G Coverage Experience analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by users of all network operators.

Introduction

Once again, Zong wins the lion's share of awards in Opensignal's analysis of mobile network experience in Pakistan. The operator has held onto its outright wins in 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience while also jointly winning the Games Experience and Upload Speed Experience awards. However, it no longer wins the Video Experience award outright, but shares the top spot alongside Ufone instead.

Although Zong continues to dominate the awards table, Jazz has emerged as the challenger operator in Pakistan by raking up two awards outright — for Download Speed Experience and Voice App Experience — in addition to its joint wins with Zong in Games Experience and Upload Speed Experience.

The improvements in mobile experience reported by Ufone users since the last time around are also noteworthy. Especially in Download Speed Experience and Upload Speed Experience. Since the previous report, the average overall download and upload speeds observed by our Ufone users have more than doubled, while their average 4G download and upload speeds were about 190% faster. Among other factors, these changes are likely due to the impact from the additional spectrum it acquired in September 2021 for 4G.

Following this 4G spectrum auction, the Pakistani government has moved its focus towards a 5G spectrum auction which will be conducted in the 2022-24 fiscal year. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan also suggested that 5G services will initially launch in five major cities.

In this report, we've analyzed the mobile network experience using Pakistan's four national operators — Jazz, Ufone, Zong and Telenor — over 90 days, beginning October 1 and ending December 29, 2021, to see how they fared on Opensignal's seven key measures of mobile network experience using real-world data reported by Pakistani smartphone users.

Opensignal Awards Table

Mobile Experience Awards Pakistan
February 2022, 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 2022, Pakistan
Voice App Experience
Download Speed Experience
4G Availability
4G Coverage Experience
Mobile Experience Awards Draws
February 2022, Pakistan
Video Experience
Games Experience
Upload Speed Experience
Download Image

Overview

Click on metric labels below for a quick preview
Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
50.1
Telenor
35.4
Ufone
52.7
Zong
52.2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

National Analysis

Video Experience

Ufone and Zong are the joint winners of Opensignal's Video Experience award with statistically tied scores of 52.7 and 52.2 (out of 100), respectively, which gives both a Fair rating (40<55). Jazz also earned a Fair rating with 50.1 points, while Telenor was further behind at 35.4 points.

Opensignal's Video Experience directly assesses video streams from end-user devices and uses an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world's largest video content providers.

Video Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
50.1
Telenor
35.4
Ufone
52.7
Zong
52.2
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
53.1 (± 0.95) 37.3 (± 1.74) 64.1 (± 1.65) 57.0 (± 1.10)
3G Video Experience
39.4 (± 2.52) 29.3 (± 3.38) 43.0 (± 2.44) 35.7 (± 3.46)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Video Experience in 0-100 points
53 (± 0.95)
37 (± 1.74)
64 (± 1.65)
57 (± 1.10)
3G Video Experience in 0-100 points
39 (± 2.52)
29 (± 3.38)
43 (± 2.44)
36 (± 3.46)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Games Experience

In our last report, three Pakistani operators shared the Games Experience award, but this time Jazz and Zong are the joint-winners with statistically tied scores of 36 points and 35.6 points (on a scale of 0-10). Once again, we saw a close competition on this measure, with just 1.3 points separating all four operators. These scores suggest that playing multiplayer mobile games over wireless networks is challenging for our users in Pakistan, and there is much room for improvement.

Games Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
36.0
Telenor
35.0
Ufone
34.6
Zong
35.6
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
37.2 (± 0.28) 35.6 (± 0.26) 38.1 (± 1.17) 37.3 (± 0.43)
3G Games Experience
33.0 (± 0.36) 33.2 (± 0.49) 32.5 (± 0.51) 31.6 (± 0.50)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Games Experience in 0-100 points
37 (± 0.28)
36 (± 0.26)
38 (± 1.17)
37 (± 0.43)
3G Games Experience in 0-100 points
33 (± 0.36)
33 (± 0.49)
33 (± 0.51)
32 (± 0.50)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Opensignal’s Games Experience metric is a measure of how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how the multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter to determine the impact on gameplay and the overall multiplayer gaming experience.

Voice App Experience

Jazz is the sole winner of the Voice App Experience award with a score of 69.9 points (out of 100). In our previous report, the operator was a joint winner with Zong with statistically tied scores but now leads Zong's score by 2.8 points. With these scores, both the operators placed in the Poor (66<74) category for Voice App Experience, in contrast, Telenor and Ufone placed in the Very Poor category (60<66) with 65.9 and 65.7 points.

Voice App Experience
in 0-100 points
Jazz
69.9
Telenor
65.9
Ufone
65.7
Zong
67.1
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
71.4 (± 0.50) 66.9 (± 0.74) 70.2 (± 1.25) 69.5 (± 0.61)
3G Voice App Experience
64.6 (± 1.08) 62.9 (± 1.73) 61.8 (± 1.53) 58.5 (± 1.58)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
71 (± 0.50)
67 (± 0.74)
70 (± 1.25)
70 (± 0.61)
3G Voice App Experience in 0-100 points
65 (± 1.08)
63 (± 1.73)
62 (± 1.53)
58 (± 1.58)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)-based approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.

Download Speed Experience

Zong and Jazz shared the Download Speed Experience in the last report. But this time, Jazz beats Zong's score by 0.7 Mbps (6.7%) and reclaims the Download Speed Experience award with a score of 11.5 Mbps. This resulted from a slight improvement of 0.8 Mbps seen by our Jazz users compared to a slight decline of 0.7 Mbps observed by their peers on Zong, since the last report. However, our Ufone users reported the most noteworthy improvement of 5.2 Mbps or 112.4%, with overall download speeds averaging 9.9 Mbps.

Download Speed Experience
in Mbps
Jazz
11.5
Telenor
3.8
Ufone
9.9
Zong
10.8
03.757.511.2515
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Download Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Download Speed
13.5 (± 0.25) 4.1 (± 0.13) 16.4 (± 0.59) 12.5 (± 0.23)
3G Download Speed
4.4 (± 0.17) 2.8 (± 0.15) 4.4 (± 0.14) 4.7 (± 0.30)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Download Speed in Mbps
14 (± 0.25)
4 (± 0.13)
16 (± 0.59)
13 (± 0.23)
3G Download Speed in Mbps
4 (± 0.17)
3 (± 0.15)
4 (± 0.14)
5 (± 0.30)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Upload Speed Experience

Jazz and Zong are joint-winners of the Upload Speed Experience award with identical scores of 4.8 Mbps. However, while our users on both these networks saw their average upload speeds improve by 0.3-0.4 Mbps, our Ufone users reported the most remarkable improvement of 2 Mbps or 125.9%, with a score of 3.7 Mbps.

Upload Speed Experience
in Mbps
Jazz
4.8
Telenor
2.3
Ufone
3.7
Zong
4.8
01.252.53.755
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image
Upload Speed Experience
Additional Metrics
in Mbps
4G Upload Speed
5.7 (± 0.11) 2.7 (± 0.08) 6.2 (± 0.25) 5.6 (± 0.13)
3G Upload Speed
1.6 (± 0.12) 1.2 (± 0.07) 1.5 (± 0.08) 1.8 (± 0.16)
+/- numeric values represent confidence intervals.
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Limited
4G Upload Speed in Mbps
6 (± 0.11)
3 (± 0.08)
6 (± 0.25)
6 (± 0.13)
3G Upload Speed in Mbps
2 (± 0.12)
1 (± 0.07)
2 (± 0.08)
2 (± 0.16)
Mobile Network Experience Report | February 2022 | © Opensignal Inc.

Upload speeds are becoming increasingly important in mobile services, with changing usage patterns and consumption habits. For example, mobile users now engage more on social media apps — creating and sharing high-resolution images and videos — and are moving away from content consumption to content creation, which gives operators with the fastest upload speeds a distinct advantage.

4G Availability

Zong holds onto the 4G Availability availability and maintains a clear win as our users on its network spent 84.4% of their time with a 4G connection — 2.4-2.8 percentage points greater than on Jazz and Telenor. Meanwhile, Ufone users spent the lowest proportion of time connected to 4G, on average, in Pakistan — 65.2%. Opensignal's measure of 4G Availability shows the proportion of time users with a 4G device and subscription have a 4G connection.

4G Availability
% of time
Jazz
82.0
Telenor
81.5
Ufone
65.2
Zong
84.4
021.2542.563.7585
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience

Zong held onto our 4G Coverage Experience award with the highest score of 5.9 points (on a 10-point scale), followed closely by Jazz and Telenor with 5.3 and 5.2 points, respectively, while Ufone was further away with a score of 2.3 points. In addition, our users observed an uptick of 0.1 points on Jazz's network, while their peers on the other three national networks saw no statistical difference in the 4G Coverage Experience compared to the last report.

4G Coverage Experience
in 0-10 points
Jazz
5.3
Telenor
5.2
Ufone
2.3
Zong
5.9
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The brackets represent confidence intervals.
Download Image

4G Coverage Experience measures how our mobile subscribers experience 4G coverage on an operator's network. Measured on a scale of 0-10, it analyzes the locations where customers of a network operator received a 4G signal relative to the locations visited by Opensignal users of all network operators.

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