A detailed report of losses incurred by each telecommunication company will be submitted to the IT ministry, which will then make decisions about the compensations of losses
Pakistan just recently underwent the most disastrous flooding in the country’s history. While the floods directly affected millions of people, they have also damaged infrastructure for many businesses thus damaging the economy. Starting as early as June, the floods water is now seeping out.
Throughout this process, multiple industries are calculating the financial damage they had to incur throughout the floods. One such industry is telecommunication, which has faced a loss of over Rs. 17 Billion throughout the floods.
Sources told that Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) have been asking all telecom operators to report the losses faced during flooding and send it in a form of report to the ministry of IT.
Following the orders each telecom operator listed down and submitted the destruction data to the ministry. Soon Ministry of IT and Telecommunications started receiving the reports regarding losses of telecom sector by PTA. Losses in these reports are primarily divided into two major damages, that are financial and property damage.
As per the given record submitted by telecom companies, a total loss of Rs.17, 274 million was incurred. Breaking it down into companies , it was found out that Jazz lost a total of Rs.7,540 million, which is much higher than other service providers. Next came in Zong, Wateen Telecom and Ufone which lost Rs 861.3 million Rs. 672 million, 469 million and respectively.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) faced mega losses of over Rs.2,283.84 million. Telenor another major telecommunication company lost around Rs.5,448 million due to damages in the recent floods.
Towers, equipment, optical fiber, access network, generators, routers, cables etc. were all ruined due this high scale flooding. Standing water in several telecom sites was also a reason for the damage of many .
The ministry of IT will now have a detailed look of the reports. It will then decide and agree on repayments and imbursements for telecom companies that have had to face massive losses in the floods.
