Citing higher finance costs due to inflation, rise in fuel prices and devaluation of the rupee as the main reasons
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has termed an increase in retail tariffs for mobile operators from 2021 to 2024 as justified, citing higher financial costs due to inflation, rise in fuel prices and devaluation of the rupee.
“Since March 2021 to May 2024, fuel prices have increased by 158 percent, inflation increased by 83 percent, while the rupee depreciated against the dollar by 44 percent. In addition, the policy rate has increased by 214 percent, increasing the financial cost of operators,” the PTA has stated in an official response to an adjournment of MPP Sindh assembly.
The legislator in his motion had complained that telecom companies operating in the country have not only increased the cost of mobile packages but their network performance in Karachi and other parts of Sindh has declined.
The Sindh Assembly Secretariat had sent the matter to the PTA for its opinion.
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In its written reply, the PTA authorities have stated that the PTA is monitoring the tariffs and taking steps to improve the network performance of the telecom service. However, the PTA only regulates tariffs for ‘dominant operators’ (SMP). Non-SMP operators are free to set their tariffs according to their business decisions, the PTA said, adding that Jazz and Telenor have been declared as SMP operators by the PTA.
According to the PTA officials, several steps are being taken to improve the telecom services, including conducting quality surveys of cities, highways, highways and railway tracks. Moreover, an increase in BTS (towers) is also done annually as part of the network expansion.
At present, 245 towers are available in Punjab, 105 in Sindh, 65 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 30 in Balochistan and 10 in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, it added.
“However, certain areas still face network availability issues, mainly due to prolonged power outages, limited access to commercial power, delays in securing right-of-way and incidents of theft or vandalism,” the authorities said.
They added that limited access to commercial power affects at least 17 percent of BTS sites.
According to the PTA authorities, the quality of service has improved as a result of continued efforts on the part of the operators. Adequate voice and data services are now available along major motorways, including the M-9. However, the Hyderabad-Sukkur section is still under construction, so network installation and subsequent surveys will be done once it becomes operational.
