Etisalat's $800m dues draw Senate scrutiny
Lawmakers on Thursday raised the long-pending issue of $800 million owed by Etisalat to Pakistan.
The issue was raised during a Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication meeting chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan.
She asked whether the funds had been recovered, while the IT secretary said the matter remained under discussion between the government of Pakistan and Etisalat, with the last round of talks held a few months ago. He added that this was a privatisation-related shareholder issue.
Palwasha proposed a joint meeting between the IT and privatisation committees to take up the matter, with plans for a combined session in the next round.
The committee also discussed concerns over content moderation on X, after a tweet by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif regarding Israel was reportedly removed.
Senator Palwasha Khan claimed that content critical of Israel was routinely taken down, calling X a "biased platform" and questioning whether any action had been taken. The PTA chairman responded that the minister had described the account as personal and that no formal complaint had been received by the authority.
Highlighting regional disparities, Senator Syed Kazim Ali Shah said signal outages were a major issue in Sindh, particularly in Khairpur, Sukkur, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Nawabshah, Larkana and Hyderabad.
He noted that load-shedding, combined with diesel theft, had rendered connectivity "almost non-existent" in several areas, urging PTA to curb theft and improve services.
The parliamentary panel raised alarm over widespread signal outages on motorways and across Sindh, linking disruptions to diesel theft, load-shedding and weak regulatory oversight, affecting nearly 60 million users nationwide.
The committee took serious notice of the situation, constituting a sub-committee to investigate persistent connectivity breakdowns, including the absence of telecom towers along motorways and the reported theft of diesel used to power network infrastructure.
Lawmakers also raised concerns over the role of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of IT in addressing systemic failures in service delivery.
During the meeting, Senator Palwasha Khan said she had repeatedly pointed out the lack of signals on motorways.
"I have said many times that there is no signal on the motorway," she said, adding that despite repeated calls to install towers, no action had been taken.
She noted that several parliamentarians had also raised the same concern, questioning why infrastructure gaps remained unaddressed.
PTA officials said they were attempting to address the issue through licensing mechanisms.
Senator Atta ur Rehman claimed that diesel and even batteries were being stolen in Lakki Marwat, but Senator Sadia Abbasi rejected the explanation, arguing that surveillance systems already existed and solutions were available.
Demonstrating the problem in real time, Senator Attaur Rehman dialled a number during the meeting and said, "The number is switched off, there is no signal. You can see for yourself."