ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Thursday responded to complaints regarding slow internet services across the country during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology, a local television reported.
The committee session, chaired by Senator Palwasha Khan, saw heated discussions as senators voiced frustration over the impact of poor internet connectivity on business activities and e-commerce.
Senator Afnanullah Khan and Senator Humayun expressed their discontent with the PTA and the Ministry of Information Technology, highlighting that slow internet speeds have led to the departure of several e-commerce platforms from Pakistan.
“Users are experiencing significant issues with uploading and downloading media files on WhatsApp,” Senator Afnanullah noted. “The slow internet speeds are severely affecting online business operations and user experience.”
Senator Humayun added, “You people have ruined business activities with this slow internet. It’s unacceptable and needs immediate attention.”
In response, the Secretary of Information Technology clarified that the current issues with internet services are mostly related to cellular networks rather than Wi-Fi services. The PTA official, however, claimed that the authority had not received formal complaints regarding slow internet speeds.
The meeting had also been scheduled to cover the installation of firewalls across Internet Service Providers (ISPs), a recent government initiative aimed at regulating social media and Internet traffic.
However, due to the unavailability of PTA officials to discuss the firewall installations, the agenda item was postponed.
