ISLAMABAD: The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan reached 105.73 million by end-October 2021 compared to 104.71 million by end-September 2021, registering an increase of 1.016 million, revealed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data.

The number of cellular subscribers in Pakistan increased by 0.81 million to 187.20 million by end-October 2021 compared to 186.39 million by end-September 2021.

Teledensity for cellular mobile increased from 85.01 percent by end-September to 85.33 million by end-October.

The total teledensity increased from 86.15 percent by end-September to 86.47 percent by end-October.

Monthly Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) penetration stood at 48.19 percent by end-October 2021 compared to 47.47 percent by end-September 2021.

Jazz’s total count for 3G users stood at 7.049 million by end-October 2021 compared to 7.261 million by end-September 2021, registering a decrease of 0.212 million.

Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 33.676 million by end-September to 34.275 million by end-October.

Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 3.956 million by end-September to 3.844 million by end-October, while the number of 4G users jumped from 24.813 million by end-September to 25.413 million by end-October.

The number of 3G users of Telenor decreased from 4.575 million by end-September to 4.356 million by end-October. The number of 4G users jumped from 18.767 million by end-September 19.128 million by end-October.

Ufone 3G users decreased from 4.212 million by end-September to 4.063 million by end-October.

The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 6.324 million by end-September to 6.437 million.

The PTA received 16,394 complaints from telecom consumers against different telecom operators, including (cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs) as of October 2021.

The PTA said that it was able to get 15,519 complaints resolved, i.e. 94 percent.

According to the PTA data, Jazz leads the chart with 6,746 complaints and Telenor at the second position as the most complained telecom operator with 4,529.

Cellular mobile subscribers constitute a major part of the overall telecom subscriber base.

Therefore, the maximum number of complaints belongs to this segment.

The total number of complaints against CMOs by July stood at 15,313.

In terms of the segregation of complaints on an operator basis, Jazz stood first with 6,746 complaints, i.e.44.05 percent of total complaints.

A total of 4,529 complaints were received against Telenor, which is 29.576 percent of the

total CMO-related complaints.

Zong was third with 2,892 i.e. 18.88 percent of the total complaints were received against it.

Ufone had 1,140 complaints against its various services, which make up 7.44 percent of the total CMO-related complaints.

The PTA also received 770 complaints against basic telephony, where 762 were addressed during October 2021.

Furthermore, 299 complaints were received against ISPs, where 285 were addressed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021