Pakistan
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.
Pakistan
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.
Key Findings
Zong takes the lead in Games Experience
Pakistani smartphone users on Zong's mobile network enjoyed the best available quality of experience when playing multiplayer mobile games. Therefore, Zong wins the Games Experience award outright and breaks through the joint-win it shared with Jazz last time. Zong now holds a lead of 3.4 points over second-placed Jazz.
Zong is the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award
With average download speeds of 11.4 Mbps, Zong users saw the fastest Download Speed Experience in Pakistan — 0.7 Mbps ahead of Jazz. The gap between Zong and other operators varied significantly, ranging from 19.3% with third-placed Ufone to a staggering 204.6% over the speeds experienced by our Telenor users. However, Ufone is faster in terms of 4G Download Speed, with scores averaging 15.7 Mbps.
Jazz and Zong are joint winners of the Upload Speed Experience award
Our users on Jazz and Zong's networks reported the best Upload Speed Experience, with no statistically significant difference in their speeds, which averaged 4.3-4.4 Mbps. Ufone's score was slightly behind with overall upload speeds averaging 3.9 Mbps, while Telenor was way behind with 2 Mbps.
Zong wins 4G Coverage Experience outright
Our users on Zong's network connected to 4G locations in nearly six out of 10 locations they visited. With a score of 5.9 on a 10-point scale, Zong secures the 4G Coverage Experience award outright — 0.6-0.7 points ahead of Jazz and Telenor and 3.5 points ahead of Ufone.
Jazz and Zong jointly win the 4G Availability award
Jazz and Zong share the 4G Availability award with scores in the 84.8-85.4% range, with Telenor following at 80.4%, while Ufone was further away with 68.7%. This means that Jazz, Zong and Telenor users could connect to 4G mobile services more than 80% of the time.
Ufone comes top for Consistency
Ufone wins both Consistency awards outright, ahead of second-placed Zong, as it scored 49.7% for Excellent Consistent Quality and 75.6% for Core Consistent Quality. Excellent Consistent Quality measures how operators' networks meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Meanwhile, Core Consistent Quality measures the percentage of users' tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications, including SD video, voice calls and web browsing.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
Currently, Pakistan's telecom industry is facing major challenges due to ongoing power outages and economic turmoil in the country. To ensure that they can provide uninterrupted services to subscribers and cope with these challenges, telecom operators have urged the regulator — Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) — to take urgent measures. While PTA is yet to come up with an immediate solution, some operators like Jazz and Telenor are reviewing their operations and preparing to deal with the impact. In contrast, despite these challenges, Zong has continued to upgrade it's 4G network with FDD Massive MIMO solution to improve its 4G network’s capacity and spectrum efficiency. The operator has reportedly upgraded more than 170 sites since September last year.
As Pakistan strives to overcome the immediate hurdles and pave the way for 5G, Opensignal has examined the mobile network experience of our users on the four nationwide mobile operators — Jazz, Telenor, Ufone, and Zong — over a period of 90 days beginning on April 1, 2022, and ending on June 29, 2022, to see how they stack up.
In our latest look at the users' mobile network experience in Pakistan, Zong wins the bulk of Opensignal's awards, winning four out of 10 categories outright (Download Speed Experience, Games Experience, Availability and 4G Coverage Experience) and jointly winning in a further four, including three awards alongside Jazz (Voice App Experience, Upload Speed Experience and 4G Availability ) and the Video Experience award alongside Ufone. On the other hand, Ufone picked up both Consistency awards — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Our users on Ufone and Zong reported the best available Video Experience in Pakistan with no statistical difference in scores. As a result, both the operators share the Video Experience award with top scores in the 29.6-30.8 points range on a scale of 0-100.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU 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 — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Zong leads on overall Games Experience with the top score of 38.5 points (out of 100). This means that our Zong users had the best available experience when playing multiplayer mobile games over cellular connections in Pakistan.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Jazz and Zong are joint winners of the Voice App Experience award. This means that our Jazz and Zong users had the best overall experience when using over-the-top (OTT) voice apps services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on their smartphones over cellular connections. The two operators had scores of 66.7-67 on a 100-point scale.
Definitions
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) 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.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Zong is the outright winner of the Download Speed Experience award with a score of 11.4 Mbps, which is just 0.7 Mbps (6.7%) faster than second-placed Jazz's score of 10.7 Mbps. Ufone is in third place with 9.5 Mbps, while Telenor is in last place with 3.7 Mbps. This means that our Zong users, on average, observed the fastest overall download speeds when measured across all generations of mobile technology used in Pakistan.
Drilling down by network technology type, we found that Zong also dominates on 3G Download Speed, while Ufone leads in 4G Download Speed with a score of 15.7 Mbps — 2.2 Mbps (15.9%) faster than Zong.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Jazz and Zong jointly win the Upload Speed Experience award as our users saw their highest average upload speeds on both these networks — statistically tied scores in the 4.3-4.4 Mbps range.
However, when we split the results by technology type, Zong leads in 3G Upload Speed with a score of 1.8 Mbps, while Ufone is ahead in 4G Upload Speed with 6.6 Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
Coverage
National Analysis
Zong is the outright winner of the Availability award with a score just 0.6 points shy of the 95% mark. Availability indicates the proportion of time on average that our users were connected to either 3G or 4G. Jazz and Ufone are deadlocked in second place with scores of 91.4-92%, while Telenor is further behind with a score of 88.8%. The higher an operator’s Availability score, the less time on average our users on its network spent either without a signal or on 2G.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
National Analysis
Jazz and Zong are the joint winners of the 4G Availability award with statistically tied scores bordering around the 85% mark — at least 4.4 percentage points higher than second-placed Telenor’s score of 80.4%. On the other hand, our Ufone users reported the lowest 4G Availability in Pakistan, 68.7% on average.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
4G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 4G device and a 4G subscription — but have never connected to 5G — had a 4G connection.
National Analysis
It was a close-run race for the 4G Coverage Experience award, with less than one point separating the top three operator's scores. Zong is the outright winner in this category with a score of 5.9 on a 10-point scale. Meanwhile, Jazz and Telenor followed close behind with 5.4 and 5.2, respectively — more than two times greater than Ufone's score of 2.4.
Definitions
4G Coverage Experience measures how 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 users of all network operators.
In simple terms, 4G Coverage Experience measures the mobile coverage experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users — i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. It considers all the areas that Opensignal users visit, the portion of locations that 4G is available to them, and locations that more users visit have higher importance to them.
Consistency
National Analysis
Ufone is the sole winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award. It wins with a score of 49.7% and a lead of 18.3 percentage points over second-placed Zong’s 31.4%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Excellent Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games.
National Analysis
As with Excellent Consistent Quality, Ufone is the outright winner of the Core Consistent Quality award. The operator wins with a score of 75.6%, 11.8 percentage points ahead of second-placed Zong's score of 63.8%.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. It measures download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, time to first byte and the percentage of tests attempted which did not succeed due to a connectivity issue on either the download or server response component.
Full details on how the Consistent Quality metrics — Excellent Consistent Quality and Core Consistent Quality — are calculated can be found here.
Core Consistent Quality is the percentage of users’ tests that met the minimum recommended performance thresholds for lower performance applications including SD video, voice calls and web browsing.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the mobile analytics company committed to improving mobile connectivity across the globe. We are the independent authority for understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
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Confidence Intervals
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