The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has once again cut fiber optic cables belonging to internet companies and cable operators at multiple locations across Lahore, leaving offices, schools, and colleges without internet connectivity and drawing a strong protest from the Pakistan Telecommunication Access Providers Association (PTAPA) and the Cable Operators Pakistan association.
Telecom companies are performing cables bunching activities in Lahore to support @GovtofPunjabPK @MaryamNSharif, LESCO is damaging Telecom Fiber Infrastructure, suspending Internet and digital services for Public & Corporate. @CMComplaintCell @AzmaBokhariPMLN @commissionerlhr pic.twitter.com/ho0Y0IxGAz
— PTAPA-Pakistan Telecom Access Provider Association (@PTAPATelecom) March 10, 2026
According to cable operators and telecom sources, LESCO teams cut cables on Jail Road, Queens Road, Gulberg, and near Nazariya Pakistan, disrupting broadband and television services across some of the city’s most commercially active areas. The action reportedly also knocked out Rescue 1122 emergency services, raising serious concerns about the impact on public safety.
Cable Operators Pakistan General Secretary Chaudhry Tahir Javaid condemned the move, pointing out that the country is going through an economic crisis and that both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister of Punjab have directed educational institutions to shift to online classes and offices to operate online.
“In this situation, internet is a necessity for every person in the country,” he said, questioning how LESCO could sever the very infrastructure the government is asking citizens to depend on.
PTAPA also staged a sharp protest, highlighting the contradiction between the government’s active efforts to bring 5G to Pakistan, with the historic spectrum auction just concluded days earlier, and LESCO simultaneously depriving Lahore’s residents of basic internet access. The association has previously written formal complaints to LESCO’s CEO, the PTA chairman, the Secretary of the Ministry of IT, and the Deputy Commissioner of Lahore demanding an immediate halt to cable cutting.
Commissioner Lahore Division Marryam Khan had recently directed LESCO and PTAPA to prepare a joint plan for the elimination and clamping of hanging wires, with 503 LESCO teams constituted for the effort. Sources say LESCO carried out its latest action on the instructions of the Commissioner Lahore and the Deputy Commissioner Lahore as part of a broader campaign to remove hanging wires from the city’s poles. However, cable operators say authorities have conducted the drive unilaterally, without the coordinated approach they had promised.
This is not the first time LESCO has faced backlash over cable cutting in Lahore. In October 2025, a similar campaign triggered widespread internet outages across Garden Town, Johar Town, Gulberg, Cavalry Ground, and Walton Road. That drive was linked to a dispute over Right of Way charges, with LESCO demanding a 400 percent increase in pole usage fees. PTAPA warned at the time that LESCO’s actions violated the Government of Pakistan’s approved Right of Way Policy 2020, under which organisations like CDA, Pakistan Railways, and NHA have already permitted free Right of Way for telecom infrastructure.
LESCO has previously defended its position by arguing that cable operators have used its poles for decades without paying required fees, that unused cables create congestion and safety hazards, and that the cleanup is necessary to improve urban aesthetics and prevent electrocution accidents. But critics argue that cutting cables without notice or coordination, particularly when the government is simultaneously investing billions in 5G spectrum and digital infrastructure, reflects a fundamental breakdown in inter-agency coordination that ultimately harms the citizens the government claims to be connecting.
