ISLAMABAD: Continued efforts by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and telecom operators to restore connectivity in flood affected areas has resulted in further reduction of affected mobile sites count across the country to 568 (less than 1.1 % of total sites). 80 more sites have been restored in the last 24 hours and work is in progress for complete restoration of telecom services in other areas on top priority.

The sites currently non-functional are mostly inaccessible and under water due to floods. Combined efforts are being made with respective civil and military authorities for access to under water sites and dewatering.

Floods and torrential rains had extensively damaged telecom infrastructure. The affected sites count was 3386 (6.55% of the total sites across Pakistan) on the 28th of August 2022, which have been restored through tireless efforts by maintenance teams of all telecom operators.

Currently, over 850 teams are working round the clock to provide uninterrupted telecom services to consumers. Moreover, mobile operators continue to provide daily free on-net minutes to consumers with zero balance in flood affected areas as public service.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022