Islamabad:
The Senatorial Committee on Information Technologies (TI) and telecommunications were informed Thursday that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was faced with problems concerning the launch of the country’s 5G internet services.
In a briefing at the Committee meeting, chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan, officials said that all subscribers would not go to 5G because the speed of 4G and 3G services would also improve. They said that the PTA would make a decision by keeping market players.
The meeting discussed the state of the 5G spectrum auction. PTA officials said 5G required more spectrum. They added that a political directive was required from the government for the new spectrum.
The manager said that a trial was authorized in 2017, while an advisory committee was created in 5G. The PTA also hired a consultant in November, who submitted his report, they said, adding that the decision about the 5G spectrum would be taken by keeping the market players in mind.
IT department officials told the committee that three bands were available in Pakistan. They added that after the launch of 5G, all subscribers would not move there immediately. They also said that the speed of 3G and 4G services would also increase with the launch of 5G.
Also during the meeting, the managers of the Universal Service Fund (USF) gave a briefing to the committee on its projects in the past three years. They said that the USF’s mandate was to provide telecommunications services in rural and remote regions and that it had carried out 63 projects in the past three years.
Humayun Mohmand interviewed those responsible for complaints from people in the affected areas of Balutchistan. USF officials replied that the services have broken down in certain areas due to security problems.
The president inquired about the reasons for the internet disruption on the highway. USF officials replied that the PTA had addressed this problem and that the work was underway to rectify the situation.
