The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) is cutting off internet and telecom infrastructure cables around Lahore without any authorization or prior warning.
These cable cuts have been spotted around key areas of Lahore, including Garden Town, Johar Town, Gulberg, Cavalry Ground and Walton Road.
These actions have caused major internet, essential telecom, and digital services outages for both corporate and retail clients in Lahore, causing significant business disruptions and financial losses.
This is because LESCO has been demanding self-imposed and unjustified increases (400%) in RoW charges for the use of poles holding internet and telecom cables. LESCO has also been requiring telecom operators, including PTCL and NTC, to sign LESCO’s own undertaking letters, terms which are not aligned with the Government of Pakistan’s approved RoW Policy (2020) or the Prime Minister’s Digital Pakistan vision.
As a result, the Pakistan Telecommunication Access Providers Association (PTAPA) has written a formal letter to LESCO’s CEO, PTA chairman, Secretary at MoIT, Deputy Commissioner, and the Zonal Director at PTA, urging them to:
- Immediately stop the ongoing disconnection and damage of the IT & Telecom fiber infrastructure by LESCO officials.
- Engage with licensed telecom operators through proper consultation and coordination mechanisms to avoid such incidents in the future.
- Ensure continuity of essential telecom and digital services across Lahore in accordance with the Government’s approved RoW policy and the national goal of a Digital Pakistan.
The letter ends by warning LESCO yet again that their actions directly violate the Prime Minister’s vision of “Digital Pakistan” and the Government of Pakistan’s approved Right of Way (RoW) Policy 2020, under which organizations such as CDA, Pakistan Railways, and NHA have already permitted free RoW for IT & Telecom infrastructure development.
lesco is the laudu, lesco is a laudu.
Assalaam-O-Alaikum.
Cutting of cable wires/ network by LESCO is a crime.the matter should have taken up by them to higher authorities for settlement of LESCO’s grievances
They are not cutting illegally, those ISP provider are using their electric pole without permission. Ideally those ISP should have services boxes in each street like PTCL.
Is PTCL using LESCO poles?
The current internet cable system laid by PTCL is hopeless in Lahore and the way other net provider and tv cable provider has messed the poles and general condition is even more hopeless. Strict action by LESCO is required.
Lesco itself is corrupt institute and should be abolished or completely replaced by the Chinese or others credible firms.
Lesco employees themselves use unfair methods to steal electricity and work in cahoot with other corrupt public officials to slump this institute down further.
Now they are screaming on internet cable providers as if they didn’t know it from the start.
These so called cable and internet provider not only using the poles but also using electricity free of cost.
Then who is corrupt lesco or net providers.
What a joke this country is becoming. Worse of the worse people are policymakers