ISLAMABAD: Despite difficult terrain and sparse population, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) have turned out to be the only region with 100 percent teledensity, says Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

However, cellular teledensity - the number of connections for every hundred individuals in the country, decreased from 79.63 percent by end March to 79.55 percent by end April. The Regulator data revealed that total teledensity also decreased from 80.7 percent by end March to 80.6 percent by end April.

The PTA in an official statement noted that the enhancement and strengthening of telecom infrastructure and services in AJ&K and GB remained priority for the PTA and the government of Pakistan. “Today, competition has been ensured in all telecom services including mobile broadband, fixed broadband, fiber to the home (FTTH), and fixed line services,” it added.

This achievement would not have been possible without the trust placed in the incumbent operator Special Communication Organization (SCO) and other telecom operators by six million mobile subscribers. In addition to mobile broadband, the residents of AJ&K have access to a variety of broadband services such as FTTH, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and Wireless Local Loop (WLL) utilised by the masses for services like e-education, e-commerce, e-health etc. thus contributing towards socio-economic uplift of the region.

Furthermore, following international best practices, the authority has identified Telenor as a Significant Market Power (SMP) operator in the mobile market of AJ&K and GB which is being regulated to ensure competitive tariffs for consumers.

To improve coverage and ensure quality telecom services for consumers, the PTA under the license terms requires mobile operators to install minimum six telecom towers every year. Further operators also ensure services provision as per defined thresholds and for the purpose independent and joint QoS surveys are conducted regularly, it added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024