Pakistan's fixed broadband networks are suffering from significant quality-of-service deficiencies, including slow upload speeds, network congestion, high latency, jitter, and packet losses, according to a Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) survey for the third quarter of 2026. The regulator reported that many operators failed to meet prescribed quality benchmarks under the Fixed Broadband Quality of Service Regulations, 2022.
The PTA's Enforcement Division conducted the surveys through field testing and inspections of network operation centres to assess service quality and reliability. The assessments covered 12 broadband operators in 15 cities at the user end and 23 unique operators across 21 cities at the network end during July–September 2026.
The user-end assessment identified Multinet Pakistan’s Rawalpindi operation as one of the worst performers, achieving a compliance score of only 25% by meeting just two of the eight prescribed quality indicators. Cyber Internet Services also showed weak performance in Lahore with a 37.5% compliance score, while its Islamabad operation reached 50%. At the network end, Pace Telecom and Broadcasting (Pvt) Ltd recorded the lowest compliance score of 57.14% in Abbottabad, failing to meet core and access network availability standards. Its core network availability was 99.73% against the required 99.9%, and access network availability was 97.13% against the 99% benchmark.
Upload throughput was identified as a widespread weakness. Under PTA standards, upload speeds must be at least 25% of advertised package speeds for xDSL connections and above 50% for other technologies, while download speeds must exceed 80% of advertised speeds. Multinet, Cyber Internet, Connect Communications, Nexlinx Networks, PTCL, Naya Tel, and Burak Tech were all identified for deficiencies in download throughput.
Other specific network problems included:
Local network latency deficiencies: Multinet, NTC, Cyber Internet, and PTCL.
International terrestrial latency benchmark failures: Multinet.
Excessive jitter: PTCL, NTC, Cyber Internet, Nexlinx, and Multinet.
Packet-loss deficiencies (exceeding the 1% threshold): Cyber Internet, PTCL, Connect Communications, Naya Tel, Multinet, and SCO.
Webpage loading times exceeding the four-second benchmark: Cyber Internet and Nexlinx.
Jitter of 40.61 milliseconds (exceeding the 15-millisecond maximum): Falcon Broadband in Vehari.
The network-end assessment provided a relatively better picture, with all surveyed operators meeting minimum throughput requirements of four megabits per second for downloads and two megabits per second for uploads, as well as local and international latency thresholds. However, bandwidth utilization exceeded the 80% regulatory threshold in some networks, which the PTA noted raises concerns about congestion and reduced speeds during peak hours. Of the 28 city-operator entries at the network end, 16 achieved full compliance across seven performance indicators, while the rest scored between 57.14% and 85.71%.
Wide Band Communications in Peshawar was the only operator in the user-end survey to achieve full compliance across all eight indicators.
The PTA has directed non-compliant operators to undertake corrective measures, including capacity enhancement, network optimization, congestion management, improved routing, enhanced network availability, and jitter reduction. The regulator will conduct follow-up testing to verify these improvements.
