MoiTT Directs PTA to Ensure Proper Coverage & Service in the country

Recently, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom (MoiTT) instructed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ensure proper coverage and service throughout the country. The national telecom regulator was directed after the Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications of the National Assembly expressed concerns about the poor signal and coverage in different parts of the country. The member of the National Assembly Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications.

The subcommittee was likewise reappointed by the committee with the same mandate and membership. Along with the ministry representatives, the following MNAs were present at the meeting: Romina Khurshid Alam, Maiza Hameed, Naz Baloch, Syed Mehmood Shah, Salahuddin, Javairia Zafar Aheer, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, and Aliya Kamran.

The PTA briefed the committee on the results of independent surveys carried out around the nation, of which five districts had network service quality below the criteria. Despite this, the PTA fined telecom companies PKR 29 million with the instruction to improve their services.

The PTA further stated that 80 surveys were carried out annually, which is nearly twice as many as independent surveys, to verify that telecom providers provide high-quality services. The committee instructed the PTA to guarantee that the installation of fiber optics in Balochistan, which had been delayed for two years, is completed as soon as possible so that the Baloch people can access high-quality internet services.

The committee also instructed the PTA to ensure the availability of telecom services in District Tharparkar as all code requirements have been satisfied with the help of Universal Services of Funds (USF).

The committee also examined in depth the public sector development program (PSDP) budgetary plans of the ministry and its associated departments for the current fiscal year 2023-24. For the current fiscal year 2023–2024, the committee approved all budgetary requests totaling Rs 24,250.375 million for 35 ongoing and 12 new projects.

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