The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan reached 71.35 million by end-August compared to 69.87 million by end-July 2019, said Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The number of mobile phone users in Pakistan reached 161.788 million by end-August compared to 161.24 million by end-July, which registered an increase of 0.548 million during the period under review.

Jazz's total count for 3G users stood at 12.769 million by end-August compared to 12.912 million by end-July compared, registering a decrease of 0.143 million. Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 11.782 million by end-July 2019 to 12.457 million by end-August.

The number of Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 8.324 million by end-July to 8.133 million while the number of 4G users jumped from 12.970 million by end-July to 13.385 million by end-August.

The number of 3G users of Telenor network increased from 8.128 million by end-July to 8.227 million by end-August i.e. registering an increase of 0.099 million. The number of 4G users jumped from 6.766 million by end-July 2019 to 7.264 million by end-August.

Ufone 3G users increased from 6.968 million by end-July to 6.997 million by end-August. The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 2.016 million by end-July to 2.117 million by end-August.

Teledensity for cellular mobile increased from 76.56 percent to 76.77 percent and broadband subscribers reached 73.42 million by end-August compared to 71.71 million by end-July 2019.

The PTA received 7,158 complaints from telecom consumers against different telecom operators including (cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators and ISPs) as of August 2019.

According to PTA data, Jazz (Mobilink + Warid) leads the chart with 2,148 complaints and Telenor stands at second position as the most complained telecom operator with 1,543 complaints.

The PTA said that it was able to get 7,148 complaints resolved i.e. 99.86 percent.

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 CMOs by August stood at 5,618.

In terms of the segregation of complaints on operator basis, a total of 2,148 complaints were received against Jazz which is 38.23% of the total CMO related complaints.

Telenor, which has the second largest number of consumers, was also second with 1,543 complaints i.e. 27.46 percent complaints were received against it.

Ufone had 997 complaints against its various services which make up 17.74 percent of the total CMO-related complaints. Zong stood third with 930 complaints i.e. 16.55 percent of total complaints.

The PTA also received 542 complaints against basic telephony where 539 were addressed during August 2019. Further 976 complaints were received against ISPs where 969 were addressed.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019