Islamabad

A Senate sub-committee in Pakistan has raised serious concern over widespread internet degradation and rising fuel theft at telecom sites, according to Dawn.

The committee was informed that around 16 per cent of the country’s cellular infrastructure has been affected due to more than 9,200 incidents of theft and vandalism recorded in the past 11 months. Officials said the repeated attacks have badly disrupted service quality across multiple regions.

Sindh reported the highest number of cases with 3,938 fuel theft incidents across 31 districts. Punjab followed with 2,827 cases in 38 districts. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 1,668 incidents across 25 districts, while Balochistan reported 716 cases across 26 districts. Officials of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told the committee that frequent power outages have also worsened the situation. Loadshedding has drained backup batteries and overworked local generators, leading to further network instability and poor service continuity.

To address the issue, PTA has engaged with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority and the power division to secure dedicated electricity feeders for telecom sites. Authorities are also working on deploying smart transformers at key network points to improve reliability.

The Senate sub-committee directed concerned departments to identify high-risk theft areas and take strict legal action against those involved. It also instructed provincial and district administrations to ensure swift response to complaints.

The committee said internet must be treated as an essential service and directed telecom firms to improve security against fuel theft. Pakistan has often faced outages due to disasters, power shortages, and unrest, with rights groups urging against shutdowns.