Islamabad, Sep 24: Shaza Fatima, the minister of state for IT and communications, attributed the primary causes of the nation’s poor internet on Tuesday to spectrum scarcity and telecom operators.
During a casual discussion with reporters, she attributed everything on the lack of enough spectrum and the load management strategies used by telecom companies. The minister added that the problem has now gotten worse due to flaws in two underwater cables.
The minister promised that internet speeds will increase after the next spectrum auction, stating that the 274 MHz spectrum is now at capacity.Restrictions on opening Letters of Credit (LCs) have a negative effect, she claimed, since they cause delays in the import of essential telecom equipment. The minister further stated no new telecom infrastructure has been developed in the past two years due to a lack of investment, while energy and fuel price spikes have burdened the sector.
Instead of turning on fuel generators to ensure optimal services during power outages, she noted, telecom providers manage their load by decreasing or restricting services. The Minister of Information Technology pointed out that Pakistan’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is low and that the country’s internet is connected to eight submarine cables, two of which are now broken.She believed that a lot of the present problems may be solved by investments in the telecom industry and spectrum auctions.
