Businesses in Lahore are complaining about poor cellular service

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Wednesday urged the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to look into the poor quality of services provided by cellular companies, as businessmen are getting frustrated with the resulting negative impact on their productivity.

Over the course of a meeting with PTA Director Salman Baig, LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah, Senior Vice President Nasir Hameed Khan and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry explained that the mobile phone had become an unavoidable tool for businesses but poor performance and bad services were adding to the miseries of customers.

The LCCI office-bearers said businesses in Lahore were suffering because of poor mobile phone coverage in many areas.

They stated that almost all markets and other parts of the city including Shah Jamal, Shadman, Gulberg and DHA had “cold spots” where mobile phone services were absent, causing frustration among businessmen.

They pointed out that the LCCI had invited representatives of cellular companies and urged them to take corrective measures.

They assured LCCI members that the service quality would be improved by January 15 but no action had been taken so far.

The LCCI officials lamented that the cellular companies were charging for 4G services but were providing 2G services to their customers.

They emphasized that the companies should stop giving new cellular service connections if they were unable to provide better quality services. They were of the view that the PTA should issue a show-cause notice to the cellular companies which were not providing quality services.

PTA Director Salman Baig clarified that the regulator could not restrict the cellular companies from providing new connections, adding that the regulator’s main objective was to ensure provision of quality services to the customers.

He said amplifiers had been removed and now cellular companies had no reason for poor services. He revealed that the cellular companies were installing towers at 80 different sites.

He assured the LCCI office-bearers that the PTA would play its role as a regulator and ensure quality cellular services.