PTA rejects cellular operators’ demand for a moratorium on QoS

Islamabad: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has rejected the demand of cellular mobile operators (CMOs) for a moratorium on quality-of-service (QoS) due to concerns that it will negatively impact network and user experience, according to a report in Business Recorder.

The news report, citing official sources claimed that PTA did not support the moratorium on QoS as it will degrade network QoS and user experience. The PTA emphasized that its primary function is to promote the availability of a wide range of high-quality, efficient, cost-effective, and competitive telecommunication services throughout Pakistan.

The NGMS licenses and Cellular Mobile Network QoS Regulations 2021 contain minimum QoS standards for compliance by mobile operators. The PTA conducts regular surveys to ensure that CMOs are maintaining QoS standards. The latest survey found that CMOs generally fulfill NGMS QoS standards, but they struggle to meet voice QoS standards. Recent licenses issued to CMOs have an obligation to provide 4 Mbps average throughput for data services, which must be completed by March 2024.

The CMOs had demanded a moratorium on QoS, roll-out obligations, a moratorium on Universal Service Fund (USF), and an R&D fund reduction from two percent to one percent for a one-year duration. They also requested a floor price uplift mechanism of voice and data to optimize base price. However, the PTA responded that providing equipment and power backups is necessary to improve KPIs, and a moratorium on QoS is not the solution.

The PTA stated that in the context of challenges faced by the operators, the focus should be on network optimization and provision of fuel at sites for power backups. The Authority responded that it has already provided facilitation/relaxation in connection with some of the QoS parameters. For instance, the call setup time has been relaxed from 6.5 seconds to 7.5 seconds to address the additional setup time required in Circuit Switched Fall Back (CSFB) scenario. The minimum target of user data throughput is being improved from 2Mbps to 4Mbps for 40 and 256 Kbps to 1Mbps for 30 in a phased manner. Furthermore, 3G Mobile Broadband is not tested where 4G Mobile Broadband is being provided, and the testing mode of end-to-end speech quality/mean opinion score has been limited to narrowband only in AJK and GB for a period of two years, up to March 31, 2024.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication had asked the PTA to provide a response on the issues and furnish legal procedures as per rules. The PTA responded that its position is in line with Section 4(d) of the Pakistan Telecommunication Re-organization Act, 1996, which states that its function is to promote the availability of a wide range of high-quality, efficient, cost-effective, and competitive telecommunication services throughout Pakistan.

In summary, the PTA has rejected the CMOs’ demand for a moratorium on QoS, stating that it will degrade network QoS and user experience. The PTA emphasized that its primary function is to promote high-quality, efficient, cost-effective, and competitive telecommunication services throughout Pakistan, and NGMS licenses and Cellular Mobile Network QoS Regulations 2021 contain minimum QoS standards for compliance by mobile operators. While the PTA has provided some facilitation/relaxation in connection with some of the QoS parameters, it emphasized that the focus should be on network optimization and provision of fuel at sites for power backups.

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