The recent threat of data and signal load-shedding posed by telecom companies was not taken lightly by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Details indicate that PTA has sent a letter to Telenor, Jazz and Ufone asking them to specify the difficulties that are preventing them from meeting the rollout obligation targets.
PTA is aware of the financial challenges telecom firms are facing. The telecom regulator is also taking into consideration the cellular mobile operators' (CMOs) request of raising charges to cushion the blow of the current poor economic conditions.
The letter further stated that PTA has the power to allow CMOs a waiver of the rollout targets under the terms of the recently signed licencing agreements in the event of legitimate economic difficulties.
The CMOs sent a letter to the Director-General (DG) Enforcement PTA earlier this week. In the event that the government is unable to fix the power issue, the telecom providers warned the PTA of a loss of connectivity.
Despite having backup generators and batteries, CMOs have admitted that they are having trouble managing the situation. They have also noted that the backup capacity has been exceeded by the length of the load-shedding.