Senate Demands Answers on Chitral Internet Crisis as USF Funds Go Unused

The Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom convened today under the chairpersonship of Senator Palwasha Khan, with the Chitral internet crisis, specifically slow connectivity and poor mobile coverage, listed as a central agenda item.

Senator Talha Mahmood, raising the issue before the committee, stated that internet slowness is currently the single biggest problem facing Chitral. He called on the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to provide a detailed briefing on the prevailing internet situation in both Lower and Upper Chitral.

Signal Goes Dark After Sunset

Senator Mahmood informed the committee that mobile service in Chitral becomes unavailable as soon as the sun sets. He noted that telecom towers operational during the day are not maintained through the night, leaving residents without connectivity during evening and nighttime hours.

He urged that towers active during the day be kept functional after dark as well. For residents of one of Pakistan’s most geographically isolated districts, the loss of mobile signal at nightfall is not a minor inconvenience; it is a daily disruption affecting communication, access to emergency services, and basic connectivity.

Billions Sit Idle in Universal Service Fund

Senator Mahmood also raised a pointed concern regarding the Universal Service Fund. He told the committee that billions of rupees currently remain parked with the Ministry of IT under the USF, without being deployed toward the connectivity projects the fund was established to deliver.

The USF was created specifically to bridge Pakistan’s digital divide by funding telecom infrastructure in commercially unviable and underserved regions. Chitra, remote, mountainous, and largely beyond the reach of private sector investment, is precisely the kind of district the fund exists to serve.

The IT Ministry Secretary followed with a direct question of his own: what progress has the USF allocation designated for Chitral made on the optical fiber project assigned to the region?

USF CEO Responds, Sub-Committee Formed

The CEO of the Universal Service Fund responded by requesting that the committee identify specific areas in Chitral where internet problems are most acute, stating that these locations would be incorporated into the next project cycle.

Chairperson Palwasha Khan, responding to the breadth of connectivity issues raised during the session, proposed the formation of a dedicated sub-committee to examine mobile service and internet problems in remote areas across the country. The proposal was accepted.

Senator Saadia Abbasi was appointed as Convener of the sub-committee, which will be mandated to assess and review internet service and mobile signal issues in underserved regions and report its findings back to the standing committee.

A Structural Problem, Not Just a Local One

Chitral’s connectivity challenges are the product of difficult terrain, unreliable power infrastructure, and years of insufficient investment in rural telecom. The pattern Senator Mahmood described, towers going offline at night, points to power supply failures at tower sites, a recurring problem in areas where grid electricity is absent or unstable and backup systems are inadequate.

The solution is not technologically complex. Reliable power for telecom towers through solar, hybrid, or grid-connected systems has been deployed successfully in comparable regions across South Asia. The barrier in Chitral is one of prioritization and consistent follow-through, both areas where the committee’s scrutiny is warranted and overdue.

The people of Chitral require functional towers that remain operational through the night, optical fiber that is actually laid, and a Universal Service Fund that fulfills its mandate rather than accumulating unspent allocations. The Senate committee has identified the problem with clarity. The task now is accountability – sustained, specific, and tied to measurable outcomes.