ISLAMABAD: Telecom services in flood-hit areas have largely been restored, as the number of affected mobile sites across the country has dropped to 568, just 1.1 per cent of the total sites, the Pakistan Tele­communication Authority (PTA) said on Saturday.

Besides, 80 more sites were restored over the past 24 hours and work was in progress to fully restore services in other areas, the telecom regulator said in a statement.

The sites currently non-functional were mostly inaccessible or under water due to floods and “combined efforts are being made with respective civil and military authorities” to reach those areas, it said.

80 more sites made functional in 24 hours

Floods and torrential rains have badly damaged telecom infrastructure in the country.

The number of affected sites was 3,386 — or 6.6pc of the total sites — on Aug 28, the PTA said.

The regulator said over 850 teams were working around the clock to provide uninterrupted telecom services to consumers. Besides, “mobile operators continue to provide daily free on-net minutes to consumers with zero balance in flood-affected areas as public service”, it said.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2022