The country's youth are increasingly seen caught in amorous advances thanks mainly to cheap night packages offered by various Telecom operators in a bid to expand customer network. The amazing part of this story is that almost all cable operators offer arguably cheapest call charges with almost entirely free Text messages offer with charges as low as 25 paisas by paying only nominal charges one can enjoy free talk on any number of one's own choice.
Though there is a widely held consensus which cuts across all sections of society that communication itself is not a bad thing. It helps people grow confidently and resolves issue besides providing opportunity to be in contact with loved ones, but its extensive use among youth is a cause of concern for elders.
The recent example of advance technology was the live coverage of wedding of Prince Willaim as more than 2 billion people saw it live, though they were not close to those people who spent their night outside the Royal palace in tents or camps just to see the whole ceremony live. "The issue is not about call charges it is the negative use of the facility which bothers parents" said Najib Ahmad a government servant in communications department.
If mobile packages are free, the youth especially the students can use it for their study purpose. "By talking free the whole night they can make each other understand the difficult sums of science or physics or formula which they were not able to understand while sitting in the class", said spokesman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
He was of the view that the cheap communication is for the facilitation of the people and they can use it for positive purposes. Contrary to this, the social circles showed their concern over the increased immoral activities and held internet, facebook, cable and the cheap communication facilities mainly responsible in this regard.
Naseem Ahmed who is a retired professor said," I cant understand the usage of mobile night packages. What are they meant for and what these mobile companies want to communicate thorough these night packages". Zehra, who is a house wife also looked worried over the night packages offered by the mobile companies. She said these offers of mobile companies like talk free from 12am to 5am are beyond understanding.
"It looks these are the free offers for the youth to communicate anything with any number of their own choice. It not only will keep them away from the teachings of Islam but also from their studies." She added. It looks it is a conspiracy against our youth, she claimed. Besides this, there is also flood of different mobile handsets in the market. Some are cheap and some expensive and starting from Rs 1,500, they lead to Rs 75,000. Dominating are the china mobiles with innovative features and designs.
Hiba, a student of third year in Comsats, said " Usually I spend my pocket money on buying mobile sets, as soon as a new handset is introduced". According to a recent survey, sale of mobile handsets reaches around 1 million per month in Pakistan. This figure clearly mentions how much our nation is crazy behind mobile phobia.
No doubt, the telecom sector is making progress in our country and the mobile subscribers reaches around 100 million in our country. But the main thing is that their must be some checks and especially the night packages offered by mobile companies must be rescind.