He cites higher financial costs due to inflation, rising fuel prices and rupee devaluation as the main reason.
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has termed the increase in retail tariffs of mobile phone companies from 2021 to 2024 as justified, citing higher financing costs due to inflation, rising fuel prices and devaluation of the rupee.
“From March 2021 to May 2024, fuel prices increased by 158 per cent, inflation increased by 83 per cent, while the rupee depreciated against the dollar by 44 per cent. Furthermore, the official rate increased by 214 per cent, increasing the financial cost of operators,” the PTA stated in an official response to an adjournment motion moved by ruling PPP MPA Muhammad Asif in the Sindh Assembly.
The lawmaker complained in his motion that telecom companies operating in the country have not only increased the cost of mobile packages but the performance of their network in Karachi and other parts of Sindh has decreased.
The Sindh Assembly secretariat sent the matter to the PTA for its comments.
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In their written reply, the PTA authorities have stated that the PTA monitors the tariffs and takes measures to improve the network performance of the telecom service. However, the PTA only regulates rates for “dominant operators” (SMP). Non-SMP operators are free to set their tariffs based on their business decisions, the PTA said, adding that Jazz and Telenor have been declared SMP operators by the PTA.
According to PTA officials, several measures are being taken to improve telecom services, including conducting quality surveys in cities, highways, highways and railways. In addition, the increase of BTS (towers) is also done annually as part of the network expansion.
At present, there are 245 towers available in Punjab, 105 in Sindh, 65 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 30 in Balochistan and 10 in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, he added.
“However, certain areas still face issues with grid availability, primarily due to prolonged power outages, limited access to commercial power, delays in securing right-of-way, and incidents of theft or vandalism,” officials said.
They added that limited access to commercial power affects at least 17 percent of BTS sites.
According to PTA authorities, the quality of service has improved thanks to the continuous efforts 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 deployment and subsequent studies will be done once it becomes operational.
