The installation of jammers at Kot Lakhpat Jail in the provincial metropolis are interrupting the cellphone service in the adjacent localities and causing signal problems frequently to the consumers within a radius of six kilometers. The jail authorities have installed an array of jammers supported on high masts along the perimeter wall, which are adversely affecting the quality of service of all the cell phone operators.
According to the phone companies, that pointed out to the Chairman, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) that about 150 BTSs are badly affected because of the jammers in the surrounding areas. The mobile phone operators in a joint letter submitted to the chairman PTA pointed out that in the southern direction towards Raiwind, some BTS even at a distance of 17 kilometers are also affected and they have been receiving a number of complaints following installation of the jammers.
Almost all the operators have received complaints relating to severe impairment of cellular communication from the customers in the area around the Kot Lakhpat Jail while complete blackout in certain areas is also being reported from time to time. It may be noted that a jammer not only blocks cellular communication in a specific targeted area but adversely affects a large area. The signals transmitted by jammers are picked up by BTS and consequently the entire coverage area of that BTS experiences degraded the quality of service.
The companies further submitted to the PTA that cellular operators could not accept degradation in quality of their service. The example of Kot Lakhpat Jail has proved that institutionalised installation of such jammers would have devastating effect on the cellular network.
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