Islamabad, Aug 24: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued a warning that the country’s ATMs, mobile and internet services, and long-distance international (LDI) carrier licenses may be disrupted if they are not renewed.
A PTA paper states that the license issue is expected to impact 10% of internet traffic and 50% of mobile traffic.
According to the document, 40% of ATMs would stop functioning and a number of cell towers might go out of operation. The impact of switching to other carriers on global communications could also disrupt the flow of traffic from other countries into Pakistan.
The Ministry of IT and telecom providers are at odds over unpaid bills, which is at the heart of the problem.
The PTA has made the renewal of licenses contingent on the payment of dues, and the ministry’s steering committee has also failed to create a plan for the payment of dues.
In addition, some LDI companies’ licenses will expire in a few months, and the licenses of three to four others have already expired. Nonetheless, businesses have petitioned the court to maintain service. According to the document, nine telecom companies owe the Ministry of IT Rs. 24 billion and are also responsible for Rs. 54 billion in late payment fees.
It is important to note that internet firewalls, which are erected at a nation’s primary internet gateways in order to monitor and filter traffic, are the cause of the disruptions to internet access that Pakistan is currently experiencing. The capacity to track the source of undesirable content is something that authorities assert these systems can do in addition to regulating or blocking content on websites and social media platforms.
