PTA network checks find faults at 166 mobile sites, operators told to fix them

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has found faults at 166 mobile sites during a nationwide check of service quality, and has told the telecom operators concerned to fix them within a set timeframe. The monitoring ran from October 15 to 22 through the PTA’s 12 zonal offices, and was aimed at tackling consumer complaints and lifting network performance.

Where the checks took place

PTA teams visited areas in Karachi, Quetta, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Kasur, Pattoki, Kot Radha Kishan, Nowshera Virkan, Torghar, Faisalabad and Gilgit-Baltistan. At these sites they identified problems with mobile coverage and with the quality of voice and internet services, and operators have been directed to resolve them. The PTA says it will keep working with operators, relevant organisations and local administrations to deliver improved, reliable telecom services across the country.

The backdrop: the same debate in Parliament

The findings land in the middle of a running debate in Parliament about mobile service quality. In Friday’s National Assembly session, member Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari said neither 4G nor 5G was working properly in Nawabshah, while the parliamentary secretary for IT said 5G was available in 24 cities, with nationwide expansion expected to take about two more years. A PTA report based on second-quarter 2026 data found 4G users averaged download speeds of 18.9 Mbps, while 5G was available for just 3.95 percent of users’ connected time — the new technology, in other words, has barely reached most people yet.

For ordinary users, the message is straightforward: the responsibility for fixing the service now sits with the operators, and this time the regulator has gone out and checked for itself. The real test will be how quickly — and how completely — those fixes arrive, because the complaint is the same in every city: weak signal, slow internet.