Citing Sindh Police Spokesperson, Dawn.com reported that agencies responsible for maintaining the security of the city have requested the federal government – through Sindh Home Department – to ban mobile phone services in karachi on new year evening.
Report says that this request for ban on mobile phone services is based on intelligence reports, hinting possible attacks on new year celebrations in the city.
It merits mentioning here that cellular services were suddenly suspended for similar reasons in Karachi on Friday. Cellphone suspension, that lasted for seven hours, had caused mobile companies a revenue loss of around Rs. 100 million.
Mobile phone service suspension because of security reasons, that has now become a routine in Pakistan, not only causes loss of revenues for cellular operators but it also leaves the masses with no communication means.
Mobile phone subscribers also bear the loss of money with such service bans, especially the post-paid customers and those who subscribe to SMS/Voice/Mobile internet bundles – as they are charged as per regular tariff plans even when networks remain down.