Islamabad: The Sub-Committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications, chaired by Senator Sadia Abbasi, convened Monday at Parliament House to address the critical issues of national internet degradation and systemic diesel theft from telecommunications infrastructure across the country.

Committee was attended by Senators Kamran Murtaza, Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan and senior’s officials from the ministry.

The committee expressed grave concern over data indicating that more than 9,200 separate incidents of theft and vandalism occurred nationwide over an eleven-month period, impacting approximately 16% of the country’s entire cellular infrastructure. This structural crisis is geographically widespread, with Sindh recording the highest volume at 3,938 cases across 31 affected districts, followed by Punjab with 2,827 incidents across 38 districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reporting 1,668 incidents across 25 districts, and Balochistan logging 716 incidents across 26 districts.

During the comprehensive review, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) outlined how persistent power load-shedding severely deteriorates service continuity by rapidly depleting backup battery systems and exhausting conventional localized generator layers. To establish long-term structural resilience, the regulator has engaged the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) and the Power Division to secure dedicated priority power feeders and accelerate the deployment of smart transformers directly servicing critical telecom nodes.

Concurrently, the Universal Service Fund (USF) and its quality assurance representatives reported on ongoing infrastructure deployments in Balochistan, clarifying that while 80% of target areas are successfully identified through rigorous competitive bidding, severe security vulnerabilities and systemic diesel theft continually undermine operational expansion. In response to these persistent reports, the committee has formally instructed relevant departments to map out specific high-theft hotspots, directing local district management and provincial authorities to handle complaints strictly according to the law and implement robust preventative mechanisms to shield these critical installations.

The committee also evaluated ongoing network modernization initiatives, including recent spectrum auctions expanding bandwidth availability by 480 MHz and the recent issuance of 5G commercial licenses in March 2026.