Senate panel reviews telecom theft, outages

A Senate sub-committee on Monday took stock of escalating challenges linked to internet service degradation and widespread diesel theft targeting telecommunications infrastructure across the country.

The meeting, chaired by Senator Sadia Abbasi, was attended by senators Kamran Murtaza and Afnan Ullah Khan, along with senior officials of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

The committee reviewed key threats affecting telecom infrastructure and service continuity, expressing serious concern over more than 9,200 incidents of theft and vandalism reported nationwide over an eleven-month period, which have impacted nearly 16 per cent of Pakistan's cellular infrastructure.

According to the briefing, Sindh recorded the highest number of incidents with 3,938 cases across 31 districts. Punjab followed with 2,827 cases in 38 districts, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reported 1,668 incidents across 25 districts, while Balochistan recorded 716 cases across 26 districts.

During the session, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) informed the committee that prolonged power outages continue to disrupt telecom services by draining backup batteries and placing additional pressure on generator systems.