News Detail
Event Title: Senator Sadia Abbasi, Convener Sub-Committee of The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications presiding over a meeting of The Committee at Parliament House Islamabad
Event Date: 2026-06-01
The Sub-Committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications, chaired by Senator Sadia Abbasi, convened today at Parliament House to address the critical issues of national internet degradation and systemic diesel theft from telecommunications infrastructure across the country. Committee was attended by Senators Kamran Murtaza, Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan and senior’s officials from the ministry. The high-level session focused on vulnerabilities that compromise nationwide telecommunications infrastructure and service continuity, as documented across primary briefing records.
The committee expressed grave concern over data indicating that more than 9,200 separate incidents of theft and vandalism occurred nationwide over an eleven-month period, impacting approximately 16% of the country’s entire cellular infrastructure. This structural crisis is geographically widespread, with Sindh recording the highest volume at 3,938 cases across 31 affected districts, followed by Punjab with 2,827 incidents across 38 districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reporting 1,668 incidents across 25 districts, and Balochistan logging 716 incidents across 26 districts.
During the comprehensive review, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) outlined how persistent power load-shedding severely deteriorates service continuity by rapidly depleting backup battery systems and exhausting conventional localized generator layers. To establish long-term structural resilience, the regulator has engaged the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and the Power Division to secure dedicated priority power feeders and accelerate the deployment of smart transformers directly servicing critical telecom nodes.
Concurrently, the Universal Service Fund (USF) and its quality assurance representatives reported on ongoing infrastructure deployments in Balochistan, clarifying that while 80% of target areas are successfully identified through rigorous competitive bidding, severe security vulnerabilities and systemic diesel theft continually undermine operational expansion. In response to these persistent reports, the committee has formally instructed relevant departments to map out specific high-theft hotspots, directing local district management and provincial authorities to handle complaints strictly according to the law and implement robust preventative mechanisms to shield these critical installations.
The committee also evaluated ongoing network modernization initiatives, including recent spectrum auctions expanding bandwidth availability by 480 MHz and the recent issuance of 5G commercial licenses in March 2026. While infrastructure targets aim for substantial upgrades—such as raising average 4G operational speeds from 4 Mbps up to 20 Mbps, executing mandatory annual rollouts of 1,000 new site locations, and introducing Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) services—the regulator has introduced stringent network downtime thresholds to enforce compliance.
Cellular mobile operators (CMOs) are now legally obligated to maintain localized network downtime within strict margins, specifically limited to 5% or less at the Union Council level, 3% or less at the Tehsil level, 2% or less at the District level, and 1% or less on a nationwide aggregate basis. The committee reaffirmed that internet facility access must be classified under essential services criteria, and it directed all telecom operators to execute immediate, effective safeguards against fuel theft to ensure these critical national connectivity standards are met without interruption.