PTA directed to take action against mobile operators | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

PTA directed to take action against mobile operators

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to take stern action against mobile phone operators that provide poor services to their subscribers. Sher Afgan Niazi, minister for parliamentary affairs, and Awais Leghari, minister for information technology, conceded that mobile companies were providing poor services to customers. Replying to an attention notice in the National Assembly accusing mobile phone companies of ripping off customers, the ministers said the PTA must take immediate notice of the situation. “There are 39 million users in the country, but the performance of the mobile companies is not satisfactory,” Mr. Niazi said.

He said the PTA had not paid enough attention to the matter. He said he had directed the PTA officials concerned to take action against poor service providers. The PTA had once imposed a penalty of Rs 60 million on one mobile phone operator in Pakistan, but since then had taken no action to force companies to improve their services, he said. Mr. Niazi said that the infrastructure of operators was heavily overloaded. The introduction of number portability in the near future would improve the quality of service, he added. It was unfair to blame any one company as all of them had the same problems.

“We are all affected by the poor service of the mobile companies,” Mr. Leghari said. “There is a strong connectivity problem.” He said according to the terms of their licenses, mobile operators must provide connectivity at the rate of 98 percent; meaning 98 per 100 phone calls should be connected in the first attempt. But the rate of connectivity provided by mobile companies is lower, and the PTA must take action on this, he added.
Source: Daily Times
Date:9/12/2006