NA IT committee raises concern over poor internet services across Pakistan

Islamabad
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication has expressed serious concern over the poor and unsatisfactory state of internet services across the country and directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to take effective measures for improving the quality of telecom and internet services.
The 24th meeting of the committee was held at Parliament House under the chairmanship of Syed Amin ul Haq, MNA.
Briefing the committee, PTA officials said the authority regularly conducts Quality of Service (QoS) surveys of internet and telecom services.
According to the PTA, survey results are shared with the relevant telecom operators, who are directed to improve their services within 30 days.
A re-survey is conducted after the stipulated period, and if deficiencies persist, a show-cause notice is issued to the concerned operator and a fine is imposed under the applicable rules and regulations.
The PTA informed the committee that fines of up to Rs350 million could be imposed on telecom operators.
The authority also highlighted difficulties in recovering fines, saying that some operators approach courts instead of paying the imposed penalties, resulting in prolonged legal proceedings and delays in corrective action.
The committee directed the PTA to submit complete details of all show-cause notices issued to telecom operators and fines imposed during the last six months at its next meeting.
It also sought details of the amounts recovered against the imposed fines and the outstanding amounts yet to be recovered.
The committee further directed that representatives of all relevant telecom operators be invited to its next meeting to brief members directly on measures being taken to improve internet services, upgrade existing infrastructure and develop new telecom infrastructure across the country.
The committee said the objective should be to ensure better-quality and reliable internet services for consumers.
The Member Telecom briefed the committee that under the Finance Act, 2021, telecom operators had been accorded the status of an industry.
However, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had declined to recognize the telecom sector as an industry, reportedly on the grounds that telecom operators did not provide the required value addition.
Taking note of the issue, the committee directed the Member Telecom to prepare a detailed working paper covering the legal, financial and technical aspects of the matter.
The committee also decided to invite NEPRA representatives to its next meeting to deliberate on the issue and explore measures to facilitate recognition of telecom operators as an industry.
The committee observed that industrial status for telecom operators could also help address electricity supply and load-shedding issues affecting telecom towers.
It noted that power outages sometimes result in the shutdown of telecom towers, adversely affecting the availability of mobile and internet signals.
The committee emphasized the need to develop practical solutions, including arrangements for uninterrupted power supply, to improve the quality and reliability of telecom and internet services.
The committee also considered the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
During deliberations, members belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party expressed reservations, saying the proposed amendments had not yet been discussed with the party’s Parliamentary Legislative Committee and the bill therefore remained at the consultation stage.
The committee directed the Ministry of Finance to ensure completion of the required consultations and deferred further consideration of the bill until its next meeting.