ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top cellular provider said a fire at a technical hub disrupted its services in the capital and nearby areas, but that the network should be completely restored late Monday.
Cell phone use has surged in Pakistan in recent years, and millions of people were believed to be affected by the Mobilink outages, which led to dropped calls or no cell phone signals whatsoever.
The company said it had partially restored all services including voice, email and texting as of Monday afternoon.
"Our technical teams continue to work around the clock to ensure that all equipment is fully restored at the earliest," Omar Manzur, Mobilink's director of public relations, said in a statement.
The fire was reported at a technical hub in Islamabad on Sunday evening. No one was hurt in the incident, the company said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani directed government officials to check into the matter amid growing frustration with the loss of service Monday. Like other countries where cell phone use has spread, many in this nation of 180 million don't bother installing landlines anymore.
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