Jazz came out on top in a live test of mobile network quality carried out by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority across Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Thursday, with its network touching peak download speeds of 650 Mbps. The comparison, known as a Quality of Experience survey, tested the country’s mobile operators on real roads and in real conditions, and while every network showed improvement, Jazz stood out on speed, voice call consistency and the overall experience delivered to users.
The survey was led by PTA Chairman Major General (Retd.) Hafeez Ur Rehman, who joined the field teams along with senior officials including Member Finance Muhammad Naveed, Member Compliance and Enforcement Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Member Telecom Muhammad Jahanzeb Rahim and Director General Enforcement Brigadier (Retd.) Amir Shehzad. Representatives of the IT ministry, the mobile operators and the media also took part, in a public test of how the networks perform for ordinary subscribers.
Three dedicated teams fanned out at the same time along separate routes covering the busiest corridors of the twin cities, among them the New Islamabad International Airport, T-Chowk, Murree Road through Faizabad, Rawal Road, the old airport area, Srinagar Highway, Constitution Avenue and Club Road. As the teams moved, officials and journalists made live voice calls and used mobile data on the go, checking how the networks held up while travelling. The checks covered download speeds, voice call stability, data connectivity and consistency from one place to the next, and intercity calls were also placed to test whether voice connections stayed clear when a call crossed from one network or city to another.
The first results, according to PTA, were encouraging across the board. The regulator said the early findings showed excellent performance and real improvement in the quality and reliability of telecom services in the areas surveyed. It added that the exercise was meant to measure what subscribers actually experience on their phones, and at the same time to spot the gaps that still need work. A network that looks strong on paper can still drop calls on a busy road or slow to a crawl inside a building, which is why the field test matters.
Jazz’s strong showing did not come out of nowhere. The company has spent heavily on upgrading its 4G network, pushing out 5G coverage and making better use of the radio spectrum it holds. In Pakistan’s landmark spectrum auction in March this year, Jazz was the only operator to buy spectrum in the 700 MHz band, a low frequency prized by engineers because its signals travel further and pass through walls more easily than higher bands, giving wider coverage and stronger indoor signals. Jazz spent 239 million dollars for 190 MHz of spectrum across four bands, taking its total holdings to 284.4 MHz.
The same investment is visible in the company’s 5G rollout. Jazz now has 1,237 5G sites working across the country, including 126 in Islamabad and 64 in Rawalpindi, with further sites in Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar and other cities. It became the first operator in Pakistan to pass 1,000 live 5G sites back in August, and it plans to reach 2,500 sites by the end of 2026. The company has pledged one billion dollars of investment in 5G, on top of roughly 12 billion dollars invested in its Pakistani operations so far.
Thursday’s exercise also fits into a wider pattern of scrutiny from PTA. It followed a shorter survey carried out on Saturday, October 31, by the regulator’s Director General Enforcement, Brigadier (Retd.) Amir Shehzad. In its Quality of Service survey for the second quarter of 2026, which covered 11 cities, Jazz topped the rankings in 10 of them and met 130 of the 132 quality benchmarks it was measured against, also recording the fastest download speeds in nine of those cities. Zong came next with 128 benchmarks met, followed by Ufone on 121 and Telenor on 112.
PTA has not been shy about using its enforcement powers when standards slip. Over the past four years it has imposed fines totalling 3.41 billion rupees on telecom operators for failing to meet prescribed service quality standards, alongside 20 warning letters and 86 show cause notices. The message is clear: investment must translate into a better experience for the person holding the phone.
For users in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the immediate takeaway is a practical one. The twin cities are among the most demanding places in the country for a mobile network, with dense traffic and a large daily flow of commuters between the two cities. A network that holds up at rush hour and keeps a call alive on the drive from Faizabad to the airport is doing the job subscribers pay for. PTA has said it will keep up its programme of regular field monitoring, so the results are best read as a snapshot in a continuing contest rather than a final verdict. As 5G spreads and the other operators put their own new spectrum to work, the gap could narrow quickly, and the next round of tests will show whether Jazz can hold its lead.
