ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Problems of Less Developed Areas, Senator Usman Khan Kakar, has alleged that in some parts of Balochistan mobile phone operators charge people for installing towers in their areas.

“I can refer to dozens of cases in which this malpractice by mobile operators has been noticed,” he said while chairing a meeting of the committee on Tuesday.

The committee met for a briefing on the performance of the Pakistan Telecommu­nication Authority (PTA) and Universal Service Fund (USF) in less developed areas of the provinces and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) over the past five years.

Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Senator Fida Mohammad of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf supported Mr Kakar’s claim, saying that in some cases people had been charged for installing base transceiver stations in their areas.

The committee’s members were particularly critical of the PTA for its lack of coverage in Balochistan. They criticised the authority also for not ensuring quality of cellular services in a few cities that did have network coverage.

“We are dissatisfied with the performance of the information technology ministry and the PTA. The telecommunication authority is protecting the interests of mobile companies more than the interests of the people,” said Mr Kakar.

He complained that Khuz­dar, Quetta and Muslim Bagh had no coverage. Half of Zhob had no connectivity either, he added.

Mr Durrani, who hails from Khuzdar, protested that mobile phone calls in his area dropped after every minute or two and data services were non-existent.

The secretary of the information technology ministry, Maroof Afzal, expressed surprise over the remarks of the committee’s chairman and said: “These are serious allegations if mobile operators are charging people for installing towers in their areas. The operators will be penalised for such malpractice if proven.”

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2018