Islamabad, July 25, 2025 – Senator Shahadat Awan voiced strong criticism in the Senate on Friday over the deteriorating state of mobile connectivity across Pakistan, particularly highlighting persistent signal issues in areas like Daman-e-Koh, Islamabad.
He attributed the problem largely to the government’s prolonged failure to implement the Right of Way policy for telecom infrastructure, originally introduced in 2015.
During the Senate’s question hour, the Senator stressed that the lack of fiber optic expansion and insufficient installation of signal towers has left millions of users frustrated. He called on authorities to strictly enforce the policy to enable smoother rollout of essential telecom services across urban and rural regions alike.
The Senator did not hold back in criticizing telecom companies for their failure to provide reliable service, despite high user demand and growing digital needs. He urged the government to hold these operators accountable for consistently underperforming. “Citizens are paying for services that don’t work. This is unacceptable,” he remarked.
Senator Awan further noted that while organizations like Pakistan Railways and the National Highway Authority (NHA) enjoy seamless right-of-way access to land for infrastructure development, telecom providers face bureaucratic red tape and land ownership disputes, significantly delaying network expansion.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the ministries’ written responses to his questions, the Senator demanded comprehensive committee-level discussions to devise a national strategy focused on eliminating regional disparities in connectivity.
In response, the concerned minister acknowledged the connectivity challenges and confirmed that the matter has been referred to the relevant Senate committee for in-depth review and actionable recommendations.