The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology has expressed anger over substandard mobile services and summoned telecom companies to explain the situation.
A meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology was held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Member of the National Assembly Syed Amin-ul-Haque.
Discussing the issue of poor-quality mobile services and internet connectivity across the country, the committee chairman said it was necessary to address the problem of substandard mobile services nationwide.
He said improving the quality of mobile services was extremely important, adding that users often had to make a call three times.
Officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) acknowledged that there were problems with internet quality and mobile services across the country.
The PTA officials said four show-cause notices had been issued to telecom companies during the past six months. Over the past few years, 48 show-cause notices and 22 warning letters had been issued to telecom companies, while fines amounting to Rs68.9 million had been imposed.
The officials said the maximum fine that the PTA could impose on a telecom company was Rs350 million.
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Committee member Ahmed Atiq said 70 per cent of areas in the country were facing mobile service problems.
Dr Mahesh Kumar said Ufone’s service was not working properly at all.
Committee member Shazia Fareed said mobile service at Islamabad’s largest government hospital, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), was extremely poor, adding that even calls could not be made through the mobile service.
Secretary of the Ministry of IT Zarar Hasham Khan said one of the reasons for poor mobile service was the lack of standard-quality equipment and machinery.
He said a committee comprising K-Electric and the Ministry of IT had been formed to examine how towers could be protected from load-shedding.
Zarar Hasham Khan said load-shedding did not only result in power outages but also affected businesses.
The committee summoned Jazz, Zong and Ufone to its next meeting.
