ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications expressed concerns over the poor signal/ coverage of Mobile Network Services and directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ensure proper coverage and services across the country.
A meeting of the Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, MNA.
The PTA briefly apprised the committee about the independent surveys conducted across the country out of which in five districts, the quality of network services was found below the standards; however, the PTA imposed Rs29 million fines on telecom operators with the direction to improve their services.
The PTA further expressed that 80 surveys were conducted in a year now they almost double the independent surveys in order to ensure the quality services by telecom operators.
The committee directed the PTA to ensure the early completion of installation process of fiber optics in Balochistan which was pending for two years so that the people of Balochistan get quality internet services.
The committee also directed that the PTA should ensure the provision of the telecom facility in District Tharparkar as all the codal formalities were completed with Universal Services of Funds (USF).
The committee also discussed the budgetary proposals relating to the public sector development program (PSDP) of the ministry and its attached departments for the current financial year 2023-24 in detail. The committee endorsed all the budgetary proposals of amounting Rs 24,250.375 million for 35 ongoing and 12 new projects for the current financial year 2023-24.
The committee also re-appointed the sub-committee with the same terms of references and composition.
Besides the officials of the ministry the MNAs, Romina Khurshid Alam, Maiza Hameed, Naz Baloch, Syed Mehmood Shah, Salahuddin, Javairia Zafar Aheer, Mahesh Kumar Malani, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, and Aliya Kamran MNA/movers attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023