Pakistan
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Pakistan
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
Zong retains the Download Speed Experience award, while Jazz does the same for Upload Speed Experience
Our Zong users once again enjoy the fastest average download speeds in Pakistan, clocking in at 17.3Mbps. Jazz comes second, with a score less than 1Mbps lower than the winner’s. However, the two operators are reversed for Upload Speed Experience, as Jazz remains the sole winner with a score of 6.5Mbps, beating Zong by 1Mbps.
Jazz takes home the Video Experience award
Jazz was in a statistical tie with Zong for Video Experience in the previous report, but wins the award outright this time around, with a score of 48.3 points on a 100-point scale. It is the only operator in Pakistan to place in the Fair (48-58) category for Video Experience.
Zong is the sole winner of Reliability Experience in Pakistan
This is the first Mobile Network Experience report on Pakistan to include Opensignal’s Reliability Experience award Zong wins it outright with a score of 653 points on a 100-1000 point scale, commanding a lead of 85 points over Ufone. Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete basic tasks on operators’ networks.
Jazz remains the sole winner for Coverage Experience and 4G Availability
Jazz wins two out of three awards in the Coverage section. It wins the Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 6.7 points on a 10-point scale — which means our Jazz users observe has the widest and largest geographic footprint of coverage in populated areas. Jazz also retains the 4G Availability award with a score of 93.5% — this score reflects the time our 4G users spend with a 4G connection on the winner’s network.
Zong wins Consistent Quality for the third consecutive time
Zong takes the top spot for Consistent Quality for the third time in a row, this time with a score of 27.8%. Jazz is the runner-up, three percentage points behind Zong. This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
In Opensignal's latest Pakistan Mobile Network Experience report we introduce Reliability Experience, which measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete basic tasks on operators’ networks.
Jazz and Zong have split the available awards in Pakistan. Zong wins five awards outright. On top of the Games Experience, Download Speed Experience, Availability and Consistent Quality awards — which it won last time — Zong wins Reliability Experience, newly introduced to the Pakistan Mobile Network Experience reports. Meanwhile, Jazz claims Video Experience all to itself this time around and successfully defends its titles for Upload Speed Experience, Coverage Experience and 4G Availability, taking its haul to four outright wins in this report.
Telenor and Ufone end with no recognitions under their belts in the Pakistan Mobile Network Experience report this time around. However, these two operators may be joining forces and combining their assets soon. PTCL (Ufone’s owner) is planning to purchase Telenor’s operations for $400 million, with the intended acquisition being currently under review. Should this acquisition be successful, Ufone would control more than a third of the Pakistani mobile market.
Jazz is the first operator in Pakistan to shut down its 3G network, doing so in November 2024, as part of its “4G for All” project. Shutting down 3G networks will allow Jazz to repurpose its spectrum from 3G to 4G use, which is likely to boost the experience of its mobile users.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the four main mobile network operators in Pakistan — Jazz, Telenor, Ufone, and Zong — over a period of 90 days starting on October 01, 2024, and ending on December 29, 2024, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
Jazz was in a statistical tie with Zong for Video Experience in theprevious report, but wins the award outright this time around, with a score of 48.3 points on a 100-point scale. Zong takes second place, three points behind the winner.
Jazz rates as Fair (48-58) for Video Experience, which means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and substantial stalling. Ufone, Zong and Telenor all place one category lower, in Poor (under 48).
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
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 retains the Games Experience award with a score of 49.2 points on a 100-point scale, beating Ufone by one point.
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
Our Zong users once again enjoy the fastest average download speeds in Pakistan, clocking in at 17.3Mbps. Jazz comes second, with a score less than 1Mbps lower than the winner’s. Jazz, Telenor and Ufone’s Download Speed Experience scores have improved by 1Mbps since the previous report, but Zong’s score has declined by 1Mbps.
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 keeps the Upload Speed Experience award with a firm grip, defending it with a score of 6.5Mbps and beating Zong by 1Mbps. Jazz and Telenor’s scores has increased by less than 1Mbps, while Ufone has observed a decline of less than 1Mbps.
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
Jazz wins the Coverage Experience award outright with a score of 6.7 points on a 10-point scale, beating Zong by one point. This means our Jazz users observe the widest and largest geographic footprint of coverage in populated areas. All four operators’ scores have slightly increased from those seen in the last report, each rising by less than a point..
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
National Analysis
Zong remains the sole winner of Availability, this time with a score of 96.1%, one percentage point ahead of Ufone. Availability scores represent the proportion of time Opensignal users spend with a 5G, 4G or 3G mobile signal.
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 retains the 4G Availability award with a score of 93.5% and a winning margin of four percentage points over second-placed Zong. This score reflects the time our 4G users spend with a 4G connection on the winner’s networks.
Ufone, Jazz and Telenor’s 4G Availability scores have increased by three percentage points each. Meanwhile, Zong's score hasn't seen a statistically significant change since the previous report.
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.
Consistency
National Analysis
Once again, Zong takes the top spot for Consistent Quality, this time with a score of 27.8%. Jazz is the runner-up, three percentage points behind Zong. However, the gap between Jazz and the winner has narrowed compared to that seen in the previous report, as Jazz’s score increased by one percentage point, while Zong’s has declined by four percentage points.
This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download throughput, upload throughput, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
National Analysis
In the first Mobile Network Experience report on Pakistan where we introduce this award, Zong wins Reliability Experience outright with a score of 653 points on a 100-1000 point scale, commanding a lead of of 85 points over Ufone.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete basic tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
a) Signal Availability — the proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully receive mobile network signal,
b) Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet,
c) Task Completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed,
d) Sufficiency — the probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top 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 and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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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