Over 9,000 Telecom Towers Looted And Damanged Ahead of 5G Launch

More than 9,200 incidents of theft and vandalism targeting telecom infrastructure were reported across Pakistan during the past 11 months, disrupting mobile and internet services and affecting nearly 16 percent of the country’s cellular network, according to a report submitted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to the Senate Sub-Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication.

The report states that telecom towers have faced repeated incidents of diesel theft, equipment theft and vandalism, creating operational challenges for mobile operators and affecting service continuity in several parts of the country.

Sindh recorded the highest number of incidents with 3,938 cases across 31 districts, followed by Punjab with 2,827 cases in 38 districts. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 1,668 incidents across 25 districts, while Balochistan recorded 716 cases in 26 districts.

PTA also identified prolonged electricity load shedding as a major factor affecting uninterrupted telecom services. The authority said the Ministry of Information Technology has taken up the issue of priority electricity supply with power distribution companies and is coordinating with NEPRA and the Power Division to establish dedicated express feeders and smart transformers for telecom sites.

The report said Pakistan is preparing for a significant expansion of its digital infrastructure ahead of 5G. PTA expects the planned spectrum auction to increase available spectrum by more than 200 percent, raising average 4G speeds from around 4 Mbps to nearly 20 Mbps, while initial 5G services are expected to deliver speeds of up to 50 Mbps.

Mobile operators have committed to installing 1,000 new sites every year, with 20 percent to be deployed at new locations. Over the past five years, more than 12,000 mobile sites have been installed or upgraded, while operators have also introduced technologies including VoLTE, VoWiFi and Massive MIMO as part of the gradual phase-out of 3G services.

According to the report, PTA is also working to expand connectivity through Universal Service Fund (USF) projects, increase the fiber-to-site ratio from 20 percent to 35 percent, introduce national roaming on highways, and seek exemption of telecom infrastructure from Right of Way (RoW) charges.

The regulator said it has directed all mobile operators to strengthen security at telecom sites, improve network monitoring and enforce downtime limits to enhance service reliability.