Islamabad: The catastrophe of the recent heavy rains and floods has seriously affected the infrastructure of the telecommunication services in Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa (KP).

The areas worst affected as far as the telecommunication infrastructure is concerned includes Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsada, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Dir, Malakand, Kohat, Jahangira, D. I. Khan and Timergara.

The main reason behind this was the fiber optic cut of M/S PTCL and M/S Wateen Telecom between Kohat – Bannu, Lawrancepur – Mardan, Peshawar – Kohat, Bannu – Karak, D. I. Khan – Shehbaz Khel, Taxila – Nowshera, Abbotabad – Taxila and Peshawar – Mardan sections. Due to this a total of 53 Base Stations Controllers (BSCs) and 2703 Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been affected at Peshawar, Nowshera, Dir, Mardan, Charsada, Swabi, Jahangira, Swat, Bara, Timergara, Mingora, Bannu, Kohat, D. I. Khan, Kurram Agency and Khyber Agency.

Though the restoration process of services was a gigantic task in the wake of heavy floods and access issues in the affected areas, however, the backbone service providers and mobile operators, in compliance with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s instructions, made their utmost efforts and chalked out scurry plans. Eventually, a total of 43 BSCs and 2239 BTSs have been restored so far. Remaining sites are being accessed by the technical teams and shall be restored as soon as possible.

In this regard, Director General (Enforcement), PTA, Mr Yawar Yasin visited the Zonal Office Peshawar where all service providers informed about the status of current telecommunication infrastructure in Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa and have also shared the future course of actions for repair of the damaged sites. After having seen the ground situation and getting update from all telecom service providers, DG (Enforcement) directed them to complete the remaining repair work at the earliest.

 

Khurram Ali Mehran

Director PR