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ISLAMABAD: Major General (R) Hafeezur Rehman, the chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has attributed the country’s persistent internet issues to the government’s lack of investment in upgrading the telecom infrastructure.
Speaking on Thursday, he highlighted that the government has not allocated any funds to modernize the telecom sector, which he identified as the primary reason for the current internet challenges.
At a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on IT and Telecom, the PTA Chairman strongly demanded that the government take immediate action to fix Pakistan’s internet infrastructure.
Lack of Investment in Infrastructure
He was disappointed that no new underwater cables had been laid in the previous decade. He said that the lack of funding has made it harder to build the “digital highways” that are needed for a modern and efficient internet system.
According to the chairmen, the internet connection was interrupted for five months last year due to the damage to three of the seven submarine cables. Repairs were finally finished in October. Internet service providers depend on the government to provide fibre optic lines and increase access; he also brought up problems with telecom equipment theft during power outages.
In response to questions on social media regulation, the PTA chairmen stressed that the authority follows guidelines set up by the government in the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). The PTA can close or open sites as needed, but he didn’t believe that services were being slowed down on purpose.
Syed Aminul Haq, chairman of the group, was worried about how bad the mobile internet service was, especially on major routes like Karachi-Hyderabad. He criticized the lack of answers to connectivity difficulties in rural areas.
Surveillance issues were also looked at closely. According to Omar Ayub, the government misuses its monitoring powers, which include the obligation to register for VPNs.
Missing PTCL Revenues
Over the last 18 years, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited has been privatized from Etisalat, and the committee has taken note of the fact that around $800 million of the revenues from this sale have gone missing.
An executive committee headed by the minister of finance is attempting to find a solution to the problem, according to Shaza Fatima, minister of state for information technology. The head of the committee has asked the minister of law and other justice authorities to provide light on how PTCL handles its assets.
At the end of the discussion, everyone agreed that 1,000 villages should have internet connectivity and that highways and other rural locations should have their infrastructure gaps filled.
