The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday denied media reports about the potential closure of automated teller machines (ATM) and a telecommunication blackout in the country due to the non-renewal of long-distance international (LDI) licences.

The LDI operators’ main function is to provide international incoming and outgoing telecom call services. Most of the 10 operators’ licences will expire in July-August 2024.

The LDI operators are Worldcall, Redtone, ADG-LDI, Telecard, Dancom, Wise­comm, Circlenet, Wat­een, 4B-Gentel and Multinet. Most of them have not yet paid the principal overdue for the Universal Ser­vice Fund (USF) in their 20-year licence contract, which will soon expire.

Their total outstanding principal amount reportedly stands at Rs24 billion, and the PTA has asked them to settle their dues in order to renew their licences for the next 20 years. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications has reconstituted a steering committee to address the issue.

Media reports earlier today said the PTA expressed concern during a Friday meeting of the IT standing committee that the non-renewal of LDI licences could potentially “significantly impact” the country’s telecom sector.

According to documents presented in the meeting, available with Dawn.com, the impact could potentially affect “service quality, business operations and the broader economy”.

More specifically, the PTA warned that around “50 per cent mobile traffic will be affected and many towers will be out of service, around 10pc of internet traffic will be affected, banking service will be affected, around 40pc [of] ATM banking machines will be out of service”, many corporate intranets will be out of service and international communication services and voice traffic will be disrupted as well.

However, a statement issued by the authority today rejected what it termed as “fake news” circulating in the media about the potential closure of ATMs.

“It is clarified that currently there is no such issue of non-availability/closure of LDI networks that may potentially impact IT or financial sector, including ATM networks.

“Please note that operations of the expired LDI licencees are not suspended or shut down.”

The development comes amid the Telecom Operators Association seeking the intervention of the prime minister to fix recent disruptions in the internet which may cost the national economy billions of rupees.

Over the past few weeks, internet users across Pakistan have reported significant drops in speed and disruptions to social media platforms, like Facebook and WhatsApp. The business community and internet service providers have accused the government of intentionally slowing down digital services due to the installation of a “firewall”, but the government has blamed these problems on VPNs. It later attributed the slowdown to a fault in submarine cables.

In reference to these disruptions, the telecom operators sought the intervention of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif through a letter on Thursday, saying the sluggish internet could cost Pakistan almost Rs12 billion annually. According to the association, the nationwide slowdown will cause significant and long-lasting economic repercussions if not identified and rectified immediately.