PTA Completes Show Cause Notice Hearing Against Telenor Over Poor Service in Chitral
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has completed the Show Cause Notice (SCN) hearing against Telenor over poor service in Chitral.
According to the written reply to the National Assembly forum, the PTA earlier initiated legal action against the operator under the provision of the Telecom Act 1996, and a Show Cause Notice was issued to Telenor on 10th March 2023.
According to the Ministry of IT and Telecom, the operator submitted a reply of SCN to PTA on 10th April 2023.
Hearing of the Show Cause Notice has been held before the authority on 5th June 2023. The Authority is now in the process of issuing a determination/enforcement order.
A Telenor spokesperson told ProPakistani,
Regrettably, difficult terrain, unreliable power availability and limited transmission media, and import restrictions by the State Bank have significantly impacted our services. Chitral is a very important market for Telenor Pakistan as we are one of the first operators to bring connectivity to the region. We want to assure our customers that we are actively working with PTA to resolve these challenges as swiftly as possible.
The PTA started quality of service surveys on the complaints of Member National Assembly Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali. From 7th to 10th November 2022, an independent survey was conducted in Upper and Lower Chitral areas including Drosh, Ayun, Chitral City, Garam Chashma, and Booni. The survey result found degraded service therefore CMOs were asked to improve the service.
A joint survey was also conducted with Telenor in the Chitral area. After hard and soft optimization, all the KPIs were found within the licensed threshold except 4G Data throughput. An independent verification survey was carried out at the same locations of Chitral from 27th February to 2nd March; the Telenor service was still not up to the licensed threshold at all 5 locations.
Therefore, the authority decided to start legal action against the operator. In the independent verification survey, the services of Jazz, the second main operator in the area, were found improved.
According to the PTA, the majority of sites working in the area are on solar systems. Batteries installed in such sites are frequently depleted. The authority has issued instructions to the operator for replacing all such batteries in a phased manner.
According to the PTA, Universal Service Fund is also executing a project in Chitral, Lower Dir, and Upper Dir to enhance coverage and 4G reach. The project was awarded to Telenor and the company in installing new 4G/LTE sites and also upgrading its existing 3G sites to 4G/LTE. The completion of this project will help in the resolution of coverage and service quality issues in the area.
Source: Pro Pakistani