ISLAMABAD: The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan has reached 82.76 million by end July, compared to 81.14 million by end June, registering an increase of 1.62 million, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Number of mobile phone users in Pakistan has reached 168.04 million by end July compared to 167.27 million by end June, which registered an increase of 0.77 million during the period under review. Monthly Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) penetration increased from 38.25 percent in June to 39.25 percent in July 2020.

Jazz's total count for 3G users stood at 10.480 million by end July, compared to 10.817 million by end June, registering a decrease of 0.337 million. Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 19.062 million by end June to 19.982 million by end July 2020.

Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 6.535 million by end June to 6.314 million, while the number of 4G users jumped from 17.507 million by end June to 18.131 million by end July 2020. The number of 3G users of Telenor network decreased from 6.943 million by end June to 6.790 million by end July.

The number of 4G users jumped from 10.925 million by end June to 11.583 million by end July 2020. Ufone 3G users decreased from 5.469 million by end June to 5.258 million by end July. The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 3.881 million by end June to 4.221 million by end July 2020.

Tele-density for cellular mobile increased from 78.84 in June to 79.81 percent. The broadband subscribers increased from 83.17 million by end June 2020 to 84.82 million by end July 2020. The PTA received 9,735 complaints from telecom consumers against different telecom operators including (cellular operators, the PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs) as of July 2020.

The PTA said that it was able to get 9,587 complaints resolved i.e. 98 percent. According to PTA data, Zong leads the chart with 3,235 complaints and Jazz at second position as the most complained telecom operator with 2,646. Cellular mobile subscribers constitute major part of overall telecom subscriber base, therefore, maximum number of complaints belong to this segment.

Total number of complaints against the CMOs by July stood at 8,594. In terms of the segregation of complaints on operator basis, a total of complaints were received against Jazz, which is 30.78 percent of the total CMO related complaints. Telenor, which has the second largest number of consumers, was third with 1,543 i.e. 17.95 percent complaints were received against it.

Zong stood first with 3,235 complaints i.e. 37.64 percent of the total complaints. Ufone had 1,140 complaints against its various services, which make up 13.26 percent of the total CMO related complaints. The PTA also received 202 complaints against basic telephony where 190 were addressed during July 2020. Further, 929 complaints were received against the ISPs where 864 were addressed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020