Suspension of mobile phone internet service taking toll on users

Millions of users are facing severe problems due to the closure of mobile phone internet service in the twin cities.

Due to the government’s decision to suspend mobile broadband and block access to social media apps, online businesses, classes and taxi and motorcycle services have suffered the most and thousands of people risk losing jobs.

After the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on May 9 and the following violent protests and vandalism, the mobile internet service has been suspended across the country including Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The prolonged outage of mobile internet service is taking a heavy toll on users.

Mohammad Younus, who is connected to the online taxi service in Rawalpindi, said that he has been unable to find customers for the last four days since the internet was shut down. He used to earn Rs2,000 to 3,000 a day by driving an online taxi, but due to the shutdown of the internet, no one is using the online taxi service anymore.

“I request the government to restore mobile internet as its use has now become a basic necessity. It should not only be seen that the violent protesters are using the internet but also the common man who has nothing to do with any political party, also uses it,” he said.

Maria Jabeen, a student taking online classes from a German university through mobile internet, said that she is getting an online post-graduation degree from Germany, but the internet is down for the last four days.

Zubaida, a working woman who earns money by doing online business from home, said that she sews different designs of clothes at home and posts them on Facebook, YouTube and other social media websites to make ends meet. But due to the shutdown of the internet, her online business has crashed and she could make no earnings for the last four days. She demanded the government immediately connect millions of users to the mobile phone internet so that they can carry out their businesses.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2023.