On Monday, the PTA Chairman informed the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom about the arrears owed by Long-Distance International (LDI) companies.
Out of the fifteen companies, ten have cleared Rs. 10 billion, but Rs. 24 billion remains unpaid. With late fees, the arrears have surged to Rs. 74 billion. The PTA Chairman cautioned that canceling these licenses could severely disrupt services, affecting 50% of mobile networks and 40% of ATM operations.
The committee also examined Pakistan’s dependency on foreign fiber-optic networks. PTA officials presented the National Fiberization Policy, designed to reduce this reliance and minimize external vulnerabilities.