How to Restore Expired Mobile Balance in Pakistan From 1 October

From today, 1 October 2026, every prepaid recharge on Jazz, Zong, Ufone and Telenor must stay valid for at least 180 days, and any balance that expired while your SIM was active must come back the next time you top up. That is what PTA's determination of 27 August 2026 orders. To restore expired mobile balance you do not apply for anything: you recharge, then check the balance again. If the old amount is missing, you complain to the operator, then to PTA on 0800-55055.

A Rs 200 top up that vanished in August because you were away for a month is the kind of loss this rule is meant to reverse. We read PTA's press release on its own website, and it is short. It says the regulator "has implemented minimum balance validity period of one hundred and eighty (180) days for recharge / balance for all Cellular Mobile Operators", and that "any expired balance shall automatically be reinstated and become usable upon performing a subsequent recharge during the active life of the SIM". Dawn put the number of people this touches at around 97 percent of mobile subscribers, the prepaid share.

The order's history, the complaints that led to it and what each operator argued are in the PTA 180 day validity order from the day it was reported. This page is about your own phone: how to see what you have, what should happen when you recharge, and what to do when it doesn't.

What changes on 1 October 2026 for your prepaid balance?

Two things. Any recharge, however small, now keeps its validity for at least 180 days. And balance that has already expired is restored on your next recharge, as long as the SIM is still in its active life. The rule applies to every cellular mobile operator, under the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations.

Before today the operators ran different clocks, and the gap between them is why the order exists.

Zong's table is the clearest example of what the order changes. A Rs 50 recharge got 30 days. A Rs 100 recharge got 60. From today the floor is 180 days for any of those amounts, so the bottom three rows of that table cannot stand as they were. Whether Zong keeps the 365 day tier for larger loads is up to Zong, because the order sets a minimum, not a maximum.

Business Recorder reported on 27 August 2026 that Jazz supported the change, that Telenor said it already restored expired balance automatically, and that PTML and CMPak raised concerns about the financial liability. Those were positions before the order took effect. What each network actually does today is what you check below.

How do you check your balance and its validity on each network?

Dial the balance code for your network and read the reply. Jazz uses *111# and Ufone uses *124#, both taken from the operators' own FAQ pages. Zong's *222# and Telenor's *444# are widely published but we could not confirm them on the operators' sites, so treat those two as reported. Every network's app also shows the balance.

The reply is where validity shows, when it shows at all. Jazz has nothing to show because its FAQ says the balance does not expire. On Zong the validity date is tied to your last recharge amount, so the app is the place to see the date rather than guess it from the table. Take a screenshot of whatever you see. The screenshot is the whole basis of a complaint later, and a balance you remember is not evidence.

Do not confuse balance validity with the SIM's active life. A SIM that has not been used for long enough is deactivated, and the order only restores balance "during the active life of the SIM". Dawn quoted a Jazz official describing the active period as 90 days, with 180 days of quarantine after it. So a phone left in a drawer since spring may already be outside the rule, whatever the balance on it was. If you're not sure which numbers are still live in your name, the SIMs registered on your CNIC can be listed in a minute.

What should happen when you recharge from 1 October?

Your new balance should equal the amount you just loaded plus any balance that expired earlier during the SIM's active life. The restored amount should appear automatically. You do not need to send a code, call anyone or ask for it. If the sum is short, that is the moment to start keeping records.

1. Before you recharge, dial your balance code and screenshot the reply, with the date visible on the phone.
2. Recharge any amount. A Rs 50 load is enough to trigger the rule, because the order covers "any amount of recharge or balance".
3. Dial the code again straight away and screenshot that reply.
4. Add the old balance to the recharge. If balance had expired earlier, the new figure should be higher than that sum by the expired amount.
5. If it is not, keep both screenshots and the recharge receipt or the app's transaction record.

Two cautions. First, the operator may show the restored amount as a separate line, or fold it into the main balance, and the order does not say which. Read the whole reply. Second, an operator's own system may take time to catch up on the first day, and a balance that is short on the morning of 1 October may be right by evening. Check once more before you complain, then complain.

Package deductions are a different problem. If your balance falls while you sit doing nothing, a subscription or a pay as you go data charge is usually taking it, and the balance save codes on every network stop that. The 180 day rule protects balance from expiry, not from being spent.

How do you complain if the balance does not come back?

Complain to your operator first, in writing if you can, and get a complaint number. If the operator does not fix it, take the complaint to PTA on 0800-55055 or through the PTA CMS app or web portal, with your before and after screenshots attached. PTA's own press release points consumers to that helpline.

The order of the two steps matters more than people expect. PTA's complaint system asks whether you already went to the operator, and a complaint that skips that step is usually sent back to the company. The PTA complaint process sets out what the regulator expects you to have done first and how long each stage takes.

When you write to the operator, keep it to facts:

• Your number and the date of the recharge.
• The balance before, the amount loaded, and the balance after, with screenshots.
• The amount you say expired and roughly when.
• A sentence saying the PTA determination effective 1 October 2026 requires expired balance to be reinstated on recharge.

PTA released an upgraded CMS mobile app on 11 September 2026, three weeks before the rule started. That is the app to file in if you prefer not to call. Either way, quote the operator's complaint number, because PTA's first question will be what the company said.

What does the 180 day rule not do?

It does not revive a cancelled SIM, it does not stop packages or subscriptions from spending your balance, and it does not force any operator to give more than 180 days. It also says nothing about balance that expired on a SIM that had already left its active life.

The words "active life of the SIM" are the limit to remember. If your SIM has been deactivated, the problem is reactivation first, and the balance question comes after. If the SIM is fine and the balance still did not return, that is exactly the case the order was written for, and the complaint route above is how you push it.

The order sets a floor. Jazz's FAQ already promises unlimited validity, which is above the floor, and nothing in the determination asks Jazz to lower it. Where the rule bites is on the networks that had the shortest clocks, and Zong's own published table shows a 30 day tier that cannot survive today.

Common questions about restoring expired mobile balance

Does my expired balance come back automatically?

Yes, on your next recharge, if the SIM is still in its active life. PTA's order says the balance "shall automatically be reinstated". You do not send a code or make a request.

How much do I need to recharge to get the old balance back?

Any amount. The order covers any recharge or balance, so a Rs 50 load should trigger reinstatement as much as a Rs 1,000 one.

Which networks does the 180 day rule cover?

All cellular mobile operators, so Jazz, Zong, Ufone and Telenor. PTA's release names no exceptions.

My SIM was blocked for no use. Will the balance return?

Probably not under this rule, because reinstatement applies during the active life of the SIM. Get the SIM reactivated first, then ask the operator about the balance.

What is the PTA helpline for a balance complaint?

0800-55055. PTA's press release directs consumers to it, and the PTA CMS app and portal take the same complaint online.

Does the rule stop my balance draining on data?

No. That is spending, not expiry. Activate the free balance save service on your network to stop pay as you go data charges.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

Last checked 17 September 2026, for publication on 1 October 2026. We read PTA's press release "PTA Sets Minimum 180-Days Validity for Pre Paid Mobile Balance", dated 27 August 2026, on pta.gov.pk: it gives the 180 day minimum for any recharge or balance on all cellular mobile operators, the effective date of 1 October 2026, the automatic reinstatement of expired balance on a subsequent recharge during the active life of the SIM, the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations as the basis, and the 0800-55055 helpline. We saw the title of PTA's 11 September 2026 release on the upgraded CMS app in the same listing. We read the Jazz FAQ for the *111# code, its Rs 0.24 charge, the free SIMOSA and WhatsApp routes, and the statement that prepaid balance does not expire. We read the Ufone FAQ for the *124# code. We read Zong's home page for its recharge validity table. Telenor's website refused every request we made, so nothing from Telenor was read at source, and we could not find a balance code on Zong's help pages, so *222# and *444# are reported by UrduPoint and PhoneWorld rather than confirmed. The 97 percent prepaid share and the Jazz official's description of a 90 day active period are reported by Dawn on 30 August 2026. The operators' positions before the order are reported by Business Recorder on 27 August 2026. We have not yet seen how any operator displays a restored amount, and that is the one thing on this page we could only describe rather than test.