Improve services within 10 days or lose towers, AJK warns cellular companies

MUZAFFARABAD: Cellular companies operating in the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) have been warned to improve their internet and call services immediately, or their towers will be sealed. 

The warning was issued through a letter signed by Mayor Municipal Corporation Muzaffarabad Syed Sikandar Nisar Gilani, and sent to all four major cellular companies operating in the region: Jazz, Ufone, Telenor, and Zong. 

The mayor noted in the letter that complaints have been pouring in regarding substandard services provided by mobile phone companies in AJK. “Pre-paid mobile phone carriers are charging in full while providing substandard call and internet services,” the letter stated. 

Expressing further discontent, he said the services are so poor that users are often unable to make calls during emergencies because the required numbers cannot be reached.

Additionally, he added, mobile phone services completely disappear during power outages, causing further difficulties for the public.

The letter directed the companies to improve their mobile phone services within 10 days and arrange alternative power sources to ensure uninterrupted service during electricity load-shedding.

The mayor warned that failure to comply would result in legal action under the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Local Government Amendment Act, 2023, Section 83, Schedule 1, Part (1). Towers of companies failing to meet the required standards would be sealed without entertaining any excuses or objections. 

The letter was dispatched to the chief regulatory officers of Telenor, Ufone, Jazz, and Zong. Copies were also sent to the AJK chief secretary, municipal magistrate Muzaffarabad, and other officials in the AJK government. 

Additionally, the letter instructed inspectors within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation Muzaffarabad to compile reports on complaints against specific companies. These reports would be submitted to the municipal magistrate to facilitate the sealing of towers for non-compliance.

It may be added here that the AJK Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) – which led a long march on May 13, 2024, against high electricity and wheat prices – had included the demand to standardize cellular companies and internet services in the state in its charter of demands. 

Additionally, cellular companies were fined billions of rupees by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in 2022 for failing to improve their services in various parts of the country, despite being served multiple notices.