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Citizens of Pakistan have been facing electricity and gas loadshedding for years, but now they may be affected by digital i.e. internet and mobile phone loadshedding due to which they may lose connectivity.
The reason for this is the same as for electricity loadshedding as internet and mobile phone service providers say the fuel costs to run communication equipment are increasing enormously and if the government addresses the various problems they face. If not resolved, they will have to disconnect their facilities.
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Urdu News has learned that mobile service providers in Pakistan have asked the government to improve the issue of license fees and dollar-linked payments for mobile spectrum, otherwise the situation will lead to disruption of services. will go.
According to the telecom service providers, the cost of their services has increased during the current year due to the increase in the price of electricity, interest rates and the fall in the value of the rupee.
A senior official of a mobile phone company discussed that 'It has become very difficult to pay license fees and other expenses in dollars by charging the price of their services in rupees, and its impact on their overall performance. are falling.'
According to Amir Ibrahim, the chief executive officer of the telecom company Jaz, there is a digital emergency due to the payment of fuel, electricity, interest rate, license fee and other expenses to the mobile operators in US currency i.e. dollars.
According to Amir Ibrahim, "Oil prices have increased by 80 percent, electricity prices by 50 percent, and interest rates by five and a half percent."
"The electricity, battery and fuel costs for our towers that provide internet to customers have become very expensive for us."
After electricity and gas, consumers can also suffer from internet and mobile phone load shedding (File photo: Wikipedia).
"We charge customers in rupees while spectrum payments are linked to dollars," added Amir Ibrahim.
"For the first time in our history, revenue in dollar terms has declined consistently for the last four quarters. The income of the second quarter of this year has decreased by 12 percent compared to previous years.
Discussions are going on with the government, it is expected that the government will take it seriously. If improvement measures cannot be taken, Pakistan will go towards the digital dark age.
What is a digital emergency?
According to the telecom service provider sector in Pakistan, the business cost and revenue-profit ratio has deteriorated due to the changes in the economic field.
This worsening ratio of revenue and expenditure has brought the situation of telecom operators to a level where they are facing an emergency.
What is mobile spectrum?
In very common parlance, the telecom traffic capacity is called mobile spectrum. Spectrum auctions are conducted by the government in which various organizations bid for spectrum.
According to mobile companies, "It has become very difficult to pay license fees and other costs in dollars by charging the price of their services in rupees" (File photo: AFP).
Telenor Pakistan CEO Irfan Wahab has said in a recent interview that "Pakistan's current spectrum is half that of Afghanistan in terms of quantity." As a result, despite the demand, consumers are not getting the speeds that are available in other countries.
According to experts in the telecom sector, spectrum can be likened to a road. The wider the road, the faster the traffic will run.
Pakistan is generally considered as one of the countries with slow internet speed. This means that we have not been given as much spectrum as we should have.
If the spectrum is auctioned unsuccessfully, it means that the price at which it is being sold is not subject to buyers.
The price charged in the spectrum bid is difficult to pay due to fluctuations in the value of the dollar and the rupee.
The price of the spectrum is fixed in dollar value during the bidding process, but under the payment mechanism, it can change to much higher in future years.
In the future, users using the Internet on mobile phones may face a situation such as reduced speed or no service at all (File Photo: AFP)
The price of the spectrum is fixed in dollar value during the bidding process, but under the payment mechanism, it can change to much higher in future years.
According to Jazz CEO Amir Ibrahim, "When the spectrum auction was held in September 2021, three out of four mobile operators did not participate in it. At that time, the dollar was 165 rupees, now it has become more than 200."
In the last auction, spectrum was bid only by Ufone, whose shares are held by the government.
Aamir Ibrahim said that the government is requested to provide the spectrum at a cheap price, in P
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