Senate panel questions lack of criteria for parliamentarians on Ufone/PTCL Board

ISLAMABAD : The Senate Standing Committee on IT & Telecom was finally informed about the name of parliamentarian in the state owned telecom company Ufone / PTCL board, while the senators expressed reservations about lack of criteria for appointment of parliamentarians at SOE boards. The Senate body met here Tuesday and after several months of delays, Zarrar Khan, special secretary Ministry of IT and Telecom, submitted the details of board member and their privileges to the committee. Mr Khan submitted the details regarding any Senator / MNA at the PTCL / Ufone board and the committee read out that only Senator Anusha Rehman was at Ufone board. Incidentally, the details have been submitted after Senator Rehman has left the Senate Standing Committee on It & telecom and shifted to other Senate committee. The detail came as a surprise to the committee members – as the topic came under discussion several times in past months even in the presence of Senator Anusha Rehman. Senator Sadia Abbasi of the PML-N expressing annoyance said that the appointment of the board members in SOEs should be fair and the criteria has to be transparent, besides – “Why are the details not available to the public?” She asked the chairperson of the Committee, Senator Palwasha Khan to inquire if there were other members of the National Assembly and the Senate also on the board of state owned companies. Meanwhile, Senator Afnanullah also belonging to the PML-N said that the Ufone pays $5000 honourarium per board meeting. He also added that one female government officer is a member of 5 different boards and she was earning hefty amount through the board meetings. The standing committee expressed reservations over the formation of boards of institutions and SOEs, and the committee was informed that it was the prerogative of the prime minister. Responding to a question the minister for IT& telecom Shaza Fatima told the committee, “We are going to auction 5G spectrum in two months, and the services will improve after the spectrum auction is held.” She added that Information memorandum for 5G launch to come in two weeks. Speaking at other agenda item, Senator Maulana Atta-ur-Rehman said authorities were shutting down networks “even after a minor incident”, while militants continued using walkie-talkies. He stressed that the citizens gets disconnected, while electricity load shedding often brings entire system to a standstill. Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), rtd. Major General Hafeez Ur Rehman told the committee that suspensions is done after the government security directives, and the decisions rested with the federal government. He informed that out of 217 towers in Lakki Marwat, only six were currently off-air due to security threats. IT Minister Shaza Fatima said the Interior Ministry issued instructions on internet and mobile shutdowns, recalling a letter on Ashura calling for a nationwide suspension. “But scope was narrowed to specific areas after consultation with the interior minister, the fact is that the government also faced difficulties when services were curtailed,” she added. The committee asked the IT ministry and regulator to craft a clearer, more transparent mechanism to balance security needs with public access, noting that prolonged outages eroded trust and hindered essential communication. The minister also added that to reduce the impact of electric load shedding on the telecom towers, work has started on solarisation of radio based towers. The committee was informed that 3,585 towers have been solarised through the projects of Universal Support Fund (USF).