Telecom News Bulletin

The absence of senior official of ministry of IT has increased the uncertainty as people sitting on the helm of affairs are abroad these days. It is pertinent to mention here that the provincial government of Punjab has issued June 30 deadline to all Telecom operators in the province for shifting of cellular phone towers to solar energy.

The Telecom operators had decided to contact the Federal government, seeking its intervention over the issue but apparently the indifference of MoIT has made officials of Telecom companies restless as the deadline approaches nearer. Telecom companies have maintained this is not possible to convert about 15,000 towers on solar energy in such a short span of time..

An official of IT ministry informed this agency that Secretary of Information Technology Naghibullah Malik was on a visit to USA along with Joint Secretary of the ministry. He also said the secretary cabinet was looking after the affairs of the ministry while secretary IT would return home on June 29. In the joint communique sent to MoIT, telecom operators have expressed their inability to shift their towers on solar energy on pretext that there was no mechanism available in Pakistani market to provide solar cells on such a large scale. “You know, Punjab government has made an unrealistic demand. It is quite impossible for the industry to shift all its towers on solar energy due to shortage of solar cells in the market,” said an official of the telecom sector company.

When contacted, Director Public Relations, Mobilink, Omar Manzur confirmed that all the telecom operators had sent a joint response to the MoIT and other relevant authorities, including Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). “We are awaiting any response from the ministry to settle the issue with Punjab government. We would only take any step once the ministry responds to the issue,” he added. Punjab government has announced a deadline of June 30 after which the power connections to all cell phone towers across Punjab Province would be disconnected.