Telecom Sector Incurs Over Rs. 17 Billion in Losses Due to Floods

The telecommunication industry faced losses that eclipsed over Rs. 17 billion during recent floods in the country. Sources told ProPakistani that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) asked all the telecom operators to report the losses during the flood. All the telecom operators have submitted the damaged data as per the instructions of the PTA. PTA has sent a report on the losses of the telecom sector to the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication. According to the report, the Telecom sector faced an overall Rs. 17,274.34 million losses during recent floods. Jazz faced Rs. 7,540 million in losses during the flood, and Zong incurred Rs. 861.3 million in damages. Wateen telecom shed Rs. 672 million while Ufone losses were measured at Rs. 469.2 million. The country’s top telecom services provider PTCL faced Rs. 2,283. 84 million in losses, while Telenor lost Rs. 5,448 million. The telecom operators faced this loss in the terms of towers, equipment, optical fiber cable, access network, etc. Generators, routers, and cables including other equipment at telecom sites have also been damaged due to standing rainwater due to floods. The telecom operators also faced revenue due to the shutdown of telecom sites and networks in flood-hit areas. According to the Ministry of IT and Telecom, more than 3,800 telecom sites were affected due to the floods, and all the sites have been restored. The Ministry has submitted losses report to the Federal Government. Compensation or other relief on the basis of this report will be decided by the federal government.