The capital expenditure (Capex) of all telecom operators in Pakistan during the last three years has reached Rs. 267.61 billion, according to official data.
Among the operators, PMCL Jazz spent the highest amount of Rs. 95.45 billion, followed by CMPak Zong at Rs. 87.27 billion, PTML Ufone at Rs. 62.27 billion, and Telenor at Rs. 22.62 billion.
According to a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) document, the regulator highlighted these figures in a briefing along with measures taken to ensure service quality and the outcome of performance surveys. The document notes that despite significant investments, gaps in quality of service persist, forcing the authority to issue warning letters and show-cause notices to operators over non-compliance.
The outcome of quality of service surveys conducted over the past three years reveals mixed results. PTA carried out a total of 438 surveys across cities, roads, and railway tracks. In several quarters, warning letters were issued to all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) against poor performance in multiple cities, while in others, satisfactory results were recorded. Notably, Telenor faced show-cause notices in certain cases where performance fell below standards.
During the last three years, consumers lodged 65,846 complaints on PTA’s Complaint Management System (CMS) related to quality of service and poor coverage. The majority of these grievances were linked to data services (39,736), followed by service interruption issues such as load shedding (8,890), service provision or coverage problems (7,941), and overall quality of service (9,279).
PTA reported that 99.51% of these complaints were addressed, with 65,528 cases resolved. The authority maintains that continuous monitoring, strict enforcement measures, and regular surveys are essential to ensure that the large-scale investments by telecom operators translate into improved connectivity and service quality for millions of users nationwide.