IT Ministry Blames SBP For Poor Internet Services In Pakistan 

According to the IT Ministry, the SBP has not been opening the necessary LCs, which has prevented imports of vital equipment needed to upgrade the nation’s internet infrastructure.

IT Ministry Blames SBP For Poor Internet Services In Pakistan 

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication of Pakistan has laid the blame for poor internet services in the country squarely at the feet of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Officials from the IT Ministry claimed during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication that the SBP’s ban on opening Letters of Credit (LCs) for the import of machinery and cable is to blame for the country’s current poor quality of phone and internet services in Pakistan.

Over the past few months, the nation has experienced a significant slowdown in internet reliability and speeds. The SBP has been frantically working to stop the leak and has been delaying the opening of LCs for different industries.

According to the IT Ministry, the SBP has not been opening the necessary LCs, which has prevented imports of vital equipment needed to maintain and upgrade the nation’s internet infrastructure.

The State Bank of Pakistan has banned LCs for the telecom sector, according to MoIT&T representatives present at the meeting. “How can we get high-quality internet when the machinery cannot be imported?”

Officials from the ministry claim that there is currently a shortage of fibre optics in the nation. They claimed that the country lacked sufficient fibre to raise the quality of internet services. They claimed that the microwave signals are the only reason the internet service works. In Hyderabad and Karachi, there are no internet or phone signals, according to Salah Uddin, a committee member.

Alia Kamran, a different committee member, claimed that despite the absence of 4G service, there has been much discussion about the introduction of 5G technology in the nation.

While Pakistan has been connected to France via fibre optic cable from Karachi, another member of the ministry’s Telecom Department expressed concern about the country’s service quality and noted that 99 broadband licences had been released to improve internet service.

According to Member Telecom, 5000 sites across the nation were impacted by the flood, which was reported to the standing committee on information technology.

On highways, and even in Karachi, a city regarded as a business hub, there is no internet service.

Terrorists have destroyed internet services, according to Haris Chaudhry, CEO of the Universal Service Fund (USF), who briefed the parliamentary body on IT and T.

According to him, Balochistan’s security situation also led to the closure of 148 mobile towers, which had an impact on customers’ access to the internet.

He claimed that for security reasons, these towers are not being activated. According to USF CEO Haris Chaudhry, internet service will improve as the security situation in the province of Balochistan improves.

17 employees of the telecom sector were kidnapped in Balochistan last year, USF officials told the parliamentary body. Additionally, representatives of the IT Ministry told the parliamentary body that Pakistan’s telecom sector’s profitability had decreased due to current economic challenges.

The additional secretary of the Ministry of IT stated that from January to November of last year, more than 10 million new users were added. According to ministry officials, internet users increased by 60 million in four years.

According to IT Ministry officials, there are currently 1.5 million active internet users, and three to four new licences are typically issued each month.

Despite the bad economic conditions, new companies are coming in the telecom sector, IT Ministry officials informed the parliamentary body. They further said that three million people had been trained in the IT sector, and business training included video editing. They further said that freelancers had earned $29 million last year.