PTA Committed To Resolve Business Community's Issues: Bajwa

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa said on Monday that PTA was committed to resolve the issues of business community in shortest possible time

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Mar, 2021 ):Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa said on Monday that PTA was committed to resolve the issues of business community in shortest possible time.

He said that mobile service providers had already been directed to improve their services.

He expressed these views while talking to businessmen here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) where the LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah and Vice President Tahir Manzoor Chaudhry also spoke on the occasion while EC members Haji Muhammad Asif Sehar, Zeshan Sohail Malik, Sheikh Sajjad Afzal, Malik Riaz Iqbal and Saleem Asghar Bhatti were also present.

The PTA Chairman said that signal quality issue was being faced at congested areas, narrow streets and basements. He said that due to COVID-19, online working had been increased as 70 per cent rise in data usage had been witnessed. He said that 2 to 2.50 million new subscribers were coming in the system. He said that operators had been directed to improve quality of services. He said that installation of towers would take time.

He said that mobile assembling had been started in Pakistan, citing that last year, 2.4 million handsets were assembled in Pakistan while during last two months, 1.5 million sets were assembled. This showed the rapid growth of this sector. Fifty per cent parts of handsets would soon be manufactured in the country, he added.

LCCI President Mian Tariq Misbah said, "Our members have been complaining for the last few months about the poor signals of mobile networks especially in dense markets of Lahore." He said that the use of mobile phones had increased tremendously in Pakistan as the number of cellular subscribers had touched 180 million while the number of 3G/4G subscribers had reached 95 million.

Lahore, being a large city with population in excess of 11 million held a considerable share in the usage of mobile phones.

Mian Tariq Misbah said that in these times, the businessmen were making great use of mobile phones for running and promoting their businesses. There were number of Apps like Whatsapp, imo, skype etc., being used for making audio/video calls and also sharing multimedia.

"Furthermore, the 'Mobile Banking' has emerged as another very important and useful tool in last few years.

The networks available to the businessmen like UBL Omni, Easypaisa, Jazz Cash, Upaisa and Paymaz Zong etc., have also brought great ease in making quick payments to remote clients across the country," he maintained.

The LCCI President said that with the greater use of such technology, the dependency of businesses had increased on the quality of mobile companies. "You can understand that in case of zero or poor signals, all these commercial activities get severely affected," he observed.

He added, "The old markets in Lahore are densely populated and these are mostly bearing the brunt of this issue. We have taken up this matter with Governor Punjab and the senior management of Mobile companies. Since PTA supervises this sector, so, we thought to engage you to have a long-term solution of this issue."Mian Tariq Misbah said that during the meetings with the top management of mobile phone operators, the LCCI tried to convince them that they needed to increase the number of towers in proportion to the added number of mobile users for boosting the signal strength. "You will agree with me that over the time the efficiency of mobile signal towers does deteriorate that must be addressed by the relevant mobile companies, and this issue should be addressed on priority," he concluded.