NA Committee Summons Ufone Officials Over Poor Service, Warns of Licence Suspension

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication has summoned senior officials of Ufone and PTCL to its next meeting over persistent complaints about poor mobile service quality.

The committee, chaired by Syed Aminul Haque, expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of Pakistan Telecom Mobile Limited, which operates Ufone, and questioned why service standards had not improved despite repeated complaints, regulatory notices, and penalties.

During the meeting, committee members raised concerns over weak signals, disrupted calls, and unreliable mobile internet services in different parts of the country.

Haque said telecom operators that failed to meet prescribed quality-of-service standards should be issued show-cause notices. He added that companies should face financial penalties if they continued to provide substandard services.

“If repeated show-cause notices and fines do not lead to an improvement in service, their licenses should be suspended,” the committee chairman said.

The committee formally expressed no confidence in PTML’s service quality and directed that Ufone officials be called to explain the reasons behind the deterioration in network performance.

Haque said representatives of both PTCL and Ufone would be questioned about why they had failed to improve service standards.

Committee members also expressed concern that telecom companies frequently obtained stay orders after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority imposed fines or initiated regulatory action against them.

The chairman said that establishing a telecom tribunal should provide the regulator with a more effective mechanism for pursuing such cases.

“PTA imposes penalties, but companies obtain stay orders, and the cases remain unresolved,” Haque said, urging the authority to refer disputes to the newly established tribunal.

Committee members had earlier raised concerns about Ufone’s service in major cities, with some lawmakers describing its performance as the poorest among the country’s mobile operators. Questions were also raised over whether the merger of Telenor Pakistan and Ufone could further affect service quality if existing network problems were not addressed.

The committee chairman noted that the government held a 67 percent stake in PTCL and also criticized the company over outstanding financial obligations to the state.

He claimed that PTCL was unwilling to pay approximately $800 million owed to the government, though the matter was not discussed in detail during the meeting.

The committee called on the PTA to strengthen regulatory enforcement and ensure that mobile operators were held accountable for failing to provide reliable services to consumers.

It said measurable improvements in call quality, mobile coverage, and internet performance should accompany additional spectrum and the expansion of 5G networks.