THERE are indications that things might move in a positive direction as far as issues facing the telecom sector are concerned as the merger of Ufone and Telenor was reportedly in its final stages and might be completed in two weeks.
This information was given by officials of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication prompting the IT Ministry to give yet another deadline for much-delayed 5G auction (in December), provided if and buts as raised by the Chairman, PTA are successfully resolved by the target date.
The pathetic conditions of the telecom sector as highlighted by shamefully low quality of both voice and data services is a big question mark on the ability of the Telecom Ministry and the PTA, two exclusive entities entrusted with the responsibility of providing telecommunication services and transform Pakistan into a knowledge-based economy by ensuring provision of reliable and affordable ICT-enabled services. This is evident from the deadline after deadline given during the last two years for roll-out of 5G, extraordinary delay in finalizing merger of Ufone and Telenor and failure to finalize a framework for the launch of satellite Internet despite interest shown by several prominent service providers of the world. While the GSMA has repeatedly attributed the poor quality of service to insufficient spectrum allocation, limiting capacity and growth, PTA has confined itself to carrying out quality of service surveys and issuing warnings to the telecom companies. There are reasons to believe that the quality of the service has much to do with the reluctance of the companies to invest on infrastructure upgrade and expansion and instead they have closed thousands of telecom towers as part of their plans to save expenditure at the cost of quality. The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that these towers go off air whenever there is suspension in power supply as the companies do not ensure provision of fuel to run towers on generators as had been the practice in the past. Whatever the hurdles are, it is the duty of the Ministry and the PTA to take up issues with the cellular companies and ensure their resolution promptly as provision of uninterrupted and quality service is a must in this age of information and telecommunication. Similarly, the issue of data theft is a serious one but it is also not being given the required priority, making data of citizens vulnerable for exploitation.
