Dawn reports that the ISPs, Long Distance and International (LDIs) call centres are seeking compensation of $43 million for the 10 day internet outage, while PTCL claims that legally they are not obliged to pay anything at all. The LDIs which bring on average 10 million minutes of international traffic per month claimed losses of $7.35 million, ISPs claimed $7 million and the IT industry $3.6 million (although these figures don’t add up to $43 million).
The enraged also claimed that PTCL, instead of spending $10 million on satellite backup every year could have simply invested $20 million in an alternative fibre-optic cable.
Sucks to be a call centre in Pakistan.
more fibre optic cables planedI agree, PTCL should be punsihed for this fiasco, we need to set an example that this kind of incompentence effecting so many people will not be tolerated. As an investor, I’d feel more secure if the PTA fines PTCL heavily for this, that way I’d know that someone other than PTCL is actively taking steps to prevent this from happening in the future.
PTCL is planning to put more cables after this year: I’ve heard of 3 new links becomming operational: The SEAMEWE-4 cable to be operational by October, a Malaysian company by the name of Sayf group laying down underwater fibre direct to Dubai and a Pakistan-India link. All of these are supposed to be operational by the end of the year. In addition the PTA has invited foreign companies to setup telecommunication infrastructure (satellite bandwidth, optic cables, towers, radio infrastructure) for Pakistan. Licensing fee of 0.5 million USD.
Exciting news for bandwidth hungery users in Pakistan!