National Assembly Committee summons Telecom companies over poor mobile service

A National Assembly standing committee has expressed serious concern over poor mobile phone and internet services across Pakistan and decided to summon major telecom operators to explain the persistent connectivity problems.

ISLAMABAD: A National Assembly standing committee has expressed serious concern over poor mobile phone and internet services across Pakistan and decided to summon major telecom operators to explain the persistent connectivity problems.

The meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology was held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of MNA Syed Amin-ul-Haq.

Discussing complaints about poor mobile and internet connectivity across the country, the committee chairman stressed that the issue needed to be addressed urgently. He said improving the quality of mobile services was essential, pointing out that users often have to make the same call multiple times because of connectivity problems.

Officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) acknowledged that mobile phone services and internet quality remain problematic in various parts of the country.

According to PTA officials, four show-cause notices have been issued to telecom companies during the past six months. Over the past several years, the authority has reportedly issued 48 show-cause notices and 22 warning letters to telecom operators and imposed fines totaling Rs68.9 million.

PTA officials told the committee that the authority can impose a maximum fine of Rs350 million on a telecom company under its regulatory powers.

Members of the committee also highlighted widespread problems faced by consumers.

Committee member Ahmad Atiq said mobile service issues were affecting around 70 percent of areas in the country. Dr Mahesh Kumar complained about the quality of Ufone’s service saying it was effectively unavailable in some areas.

Another committee member, Shazia Fareed, raised concerns about mobile connectivity at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), one of Islamabad’s largest public hospitals. She said the mobile service there was so poor that users were unable to make calls properly.

Secretary of the Ministry of IT Zarrar Hasham Khan said one of the reasons behind poor mobile service was the use of substandard equipment and infrastructure.

He also discussed the impact of power outages on telecom infrastructure. According to him, a committee comprising representatives of K-Electric and the Ministry of IT had been formed to examine ways of protecting telecom towers during load-shedding.

He emphasized that power outages do not only affect electricity supply but can also disrupt businesses and economic activity.

At the conclusion of the meeting the committee decided to summon representatives of Jazz, Zong and Ufone at its next session. The telecom companies are expected to respond to concerns regarding network quality call connectivity internet performance and infrastructure.