ISLAMABAD: The number of 3G, 4G, cellular subscribers, teledensity as well as Monthly Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) penetration declined during April 2022 compared to March 2022, revealed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The monthly data released by the Authority shows the number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan decreased by 0.36 million from 113.11 million by end March 2022 to 112.75 million by end-April 2022.

The number of cellular subscribers in Pakistan decreased to 193.06 million by end-April 2022 compared to 193.32 million by end-March 2022.

Teledensity for cellular mobile decreased from 87.86 percent by end-March 2022 to 87.74 percent by end April. The total teledensity decreased from 89 percent by end-March 2022 to 88.66 percent by end April.

The NGMS penetration also declined from 51.5 percent by end-March 2022 to 51.24 percent by end-April 2022. Jazz’s total count for 3G users stood at 6.222 million by end April compared to 6.489 million by end-March 2022, registering a decrease of 0.267 million. Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 36.518 million by end March to 36.567 million by end April.

Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 3.447 million by end March to 3.357 million by end April, while the number of 4G users decreased from 28.033 million by end March to 27.952 million by end April. The number of 3G users of Telenor decreased from 3.824 million by end-March to 3.696 million by end April. The number of 4G users of Telenor decreased from 21.228 million by end March 2022 to 21.216 million by end April.

Ufone 3G users stood at 3.673 million by end April compared to 3.809 million by end March. The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 8.6 million by end March 2022 to 8.761 million by end April, registering 0.161 million increase during the period under review.

The PTA received 19,067 complaints from telecom consumers against different telecom operators, including (cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs) as of March 2022. The PTA said that it was able to get 18,948 complaints resolved, i.e. 99 percent.

According to the PTA data, 7,948 complaints were received against Jazz, 5096 against Telenor, 3553 against Zong and 1,639 complaints were received against Ufone. The PTA also received 216 complaints against basic telephony, where 205 were addressed during March 2022. Furthermore, 582 complaints were received against ISPs, where 571 were addressed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022