Tech matters: Next-gen services no better, lawmakers complain

Mobile phone operators to explain why their services have not improved

ISLAMABAD:

Mobile phone operators will be summoned to explain why they continue to provide poor quality service despite having obtained licenses for next-generation technology, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology decided on Thursday.

The committee will also discuss the progress on lifting the ban on YouTube at the next meeting.

The parliamentary panel chaired by MNA Captain Safdar noted the absence of cellular companies from Thursday’s meeting.

“Perhaps they are reluctant to explain their poor performance,” MNA Chaudhry Nazeer Ahmad remarked, adding  “If they can make profits, they can also brief us regarding their operations.”

During the proceedings, Captain Safdar asked committee member MNA Raza Ali Abidi to refrain from questioning the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority chief on the lifting of the ban on YouTube. “We will take up the issue at the next meeting... Minister Anusha Rehman has carried out significant work on this issue. We don’t want to share details on that with the media at the moment,” he said.

Safdar assured the lawmakers that he would make sure that representatives of cellular companies would attend the next meeting. The committee members criticised PTA for not making sure that mobile network operators provided good services.

The PTA chief said that cellular companies were in the process of rolling out their operations. He told the parliamentary panel that the PTA wanted to enhance the scope of next-generation services in Pakistan.

When asked what the PTA was doing in terms of services to the education, health and agriculture sectors, he said, “We’re gunning for wider application of technology beyond the social media and Internet.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.