PTA Orders 180-Day Validity on Prepaid Balance

Any prepaid recharge must stay valid for at least 180 days, and balance that has already expired should come back when you top up again. That is the effect of a determination the telecom regulator has issued to all three mobile operators.

It matters to almost everyone with a phone here. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has noted that around 97 per cent of subscribers in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are prepaid users.

What the determination requires

Two things, and the second is the one people will notice on their own handset.

So a balance you thought you had lost is not meant to be gone. On the next recharge inside the active life of the SIM, it should reappear and be usable.

What prompted it

Dawn reported the determination on 30 August 2026, citing a senior PTA official. According to that account, consumers had lodged complaints against Zong and Telenor Pakistan, which has since been acquired by PTCL.

The official was quoted saying the complaints were that these two companies required consumers to maintain a certain amount of balance even during the active period of the SIM, failing which SIMs were eventually cancelled, and that they did not carry the balance over after the next recharge.

The regulator is reported to have received multiple complaints about unused prepaid balance being forfeited when a validity period expired. The complaints argued that not adjusting the remaining balance against subsequent recharges hits the average subscriber financially, and low income subscribers in particular.

Dawn reported that Zong and the merged Ufone and Telenor business did not respond to its query. A Jazz official was quoted describing the active base of a SIM as 90 days, with 180 days as a quarantine period. We are setting out what was reported rather than drawing a conclusion about any operator's conduct.

How to check your own position

You do not need to wait for an announcement from your operator to see whether this has reached your number.

1. Note your current balance before you recharge, with the date.
2. Recharge a small amount while the SIM is still in its active life.
3. Check the balance again straight afterwards.
4. If the older amount has not been added back, keep the screenshots.
5. Raise it with the operator first, in writing through the app or a complaint number.

Screenshots with dates are what turn a disagreement into a complaint somebody can act on. A verbal exchange at a franchise leaves you with nothing to show.

If your balance was taken and not returned

The operator is the first stop, and the regulator is the second. Our guide to complaining about your mobile network to PTA sets out that route, including what the regulator will expect you to have done first.

The sequence matters. Complain to the operator, keep the reference number and the reply, and only then go to PTA. A complaint that has never been put to the company usually gets sent back to the company.

The separate problem of balance quietly draining

Expiry is not the only way prepaid credit disappears, and it is worth separating the two before you complain about the wrong thing.

The other cause is subscription services and background charges deducting small amounts repeatedly. That is a different issue with a different fix, and our guide to balance save codes for every network covers the codes that stop it on each operator.

If your balance is falling while the SIM sits unused, check the subscriptions first. If a lump sum vanished on an expiry date, that is the issue this determination addresses.

Where this sits among the SIM rules

Prepaid rules have changed repeatedly, and much of what circulates about SIM ownership, limits and expiry is out of date. Our guide to what actually changed in the SIM rules keeps the current position in one place.

If your SIM has already been cancelled rather than merely expired, that is a recovery question rather than a balance question, and our guide to getting a blocked SIM reopened covers it.

Common questions about the 180 day rule

Does this apply to my network?

The determination is reported to direct all three cellular mobile operators, so it is not limited to the companies complained against.

Will my old expired balance come back?

The requirement is that expired balance is automatically reinstated and becomes usable on a subsequent recharge during the active life of the SIM.

What if the SIM is already cancelled?

Then the reinstatement condition, which refers to the active life of the SIM, may not help. Treat that as a blocked SIM problem instead.

Is 180 days the same as the SIM's active period?

No. A Jazz official was quoted describing a 90 day active base with 180 days as a quarantine period. Ask your own operator what applies to your number.

Where do I complain?

Your operator first, in writing, then PTA if the reply does not resolve it.

Last checked and sources

Last checked 30 August 2026. Everything on this page is reported rather than read on the regulator's own website. We looked for the determination on the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's press releases section at pta.gov.pk on 30 August 2026 and could not locate it there, and a media centre address we tried returned a not found page, so we have not seen PTA's own wording. The 180 day minimum validity requirement, the automatic reinstatement of expired balance on a subsequent recharge during the active life of the SIM, the reference to the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, the direction to all three operators, the figure of around 97 per cent of subscribers in Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan being prepaid, the account of complaints against Zong and Telenor Pakistan, the quoted description of a 90 day active base with a 180 day quarantine period from a Jazz official, and the statement that Zong and the merged Ufone and Telenor business did not respond to a query, were all reported by Dawn on 30 August 2026 citing a senior PTA official. We have attributed rather than asserted, and we make no finding about any operator's conduct. Confirm the position for your own number with your operator, and check pta.gov.pk for the determination itself before relying on a date.