KARACHI: Most customers in the Defence Housing Authority and Clifton have stopped receiving service of WorldCall Cable Broadband — one of the largest internet and cable television providers in Karachi, owned by Omantel, a telecommunications company of Oman — amid speculations that the company is wrapping up its operations in Pakistan.

In most of Karachi’s district South, where the people rely on the cable company for their internet and television viewing, the service remains down. The problem was first experienced during the end of June rains in the city and then it was aggravated in the mid-July rains. And it continues to be an issue with no solution in sight.

“We are not being paid our salaries on time,” complained a cable worker, on the footpath outside WorldCall’s office near Clifton’s Do Talwar on Monday. “This month only we got one month’s salary. It was our first salary in seven months. During these seven months we got nothing from our employers except for the Rs6,000 dole that we received from them to keep us quiet a day before Eidul Fitr,” he added, requesting anonymity.

Asked how they have been making ends meet and why are they even working for a company that is not paying them their dues on time, another technician there said that the company’s bosses had openly told them to quit if they were unhappy with the situation. “They are actually encouraging us to resign. We would have left, too, but some of us have been working for WorldCall for 12 years now and happen to be regular employees. If we leave now, what happens to our dues and gratuity? Many contractual employees have left in disgust, meanwhile. And our employers don’t seem to care. There are still around 400 WorldCall employees in Karachi,” he said.

“We also keep hearing rumours that WorldCall is being bought by one of the leading media houses, which gives us hope,” he said.

“What we are doing is accepting help from our customers, each of whom is paying their cable fee regularly. Where is all this money going, your guess is as good as ours,” said a third cable worker, who came to join in the conversation. “Anyway, the customers pay us Rs50 or Rs100 for fixing their cable, etc, which we accept from them,” he added.

“Sometimes they also pay for wires, connectors, etc, because the company isn’t doing that either. Our ladders are also falling apart. If any of us falls down and gets injured, we doubt if the company would even pay for our treatment,” he said.

“Please, proceed upstairs to the third floor and ask our manager, Mr Daniyal, there what is really going on,” the man suggested. When the Dawn team reached upstairs, they were informed that the manager was not in. Several attempts to reach him on the phone also went in vain.

One irritated customer of WorldCall said he was switching to another cable provider after days of getting no service. “WorldCall’s cable repair men seem to have become so desperate that they are themselves creating the faults in service. They do it to make us pay them directly to fix the problem. This is how they are earning some money. They may be wronged by their employers, but we are also being hurt in the process,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP) said it was well aware of the situation and a “warning” was issued to the WorldCall management which led to some relief to consumers.

“After our meeting and warning, the WorldCall management has paid the salaries of their staff,” said Khalid Arain of CAP. “We hope they would be able to restore their services very soon. Secondly, we have also advertised over our website about alternative service providers in the respective areas so the consumers can switch to other operators if they still are not satisfied with WorldCall services. The company is in a financial crisis but we being the operators body also take care of consumers’ rights and have conveyed to the management to fix their issues at the earliest.”

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2016