Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has formally called for improved coordination among government departments, contractors, and telecom operators to put an end to the repeated fiber optic cable cuts that have been disrupting communication services across the Chitral region. In an official letter issued by PTA’s Zonal Office in Peshawar, the authority stressed the need for immediate action to safeguard critical telecom infrastructure during road construction and excavation activities, noting that frequent fiber cuts in Upper and Lower Chitral have largely been linked to development work being carried out under the National Highway Authority. The letter represents PTA’s latest attempt to resolve a problem that has persisted despite repeated earlier interventions, and one that strikes at the heart of Chitral’s already fragile connectivity situation.
The authority noted that earlier warnings and coordination requests had already been issued through letters dated August 27, 2025, and November 24, 2025, but the issue continues to persist, affecting telecom connectivity and public communication services in the mountainous region. The fact that two previous formal communications failed to produce lasting results reflects a wider structural challenge in how infrastructure development projects and telecom operators coordinate in remote areas, where the consequences of a cable cut are far more severe than in urban centres due to limited redundancy and alternative routing options. Chitral, spanning 14,850 square kilometres with a population exceeding 515,000, faces unique challenges including inclement weather, difficult topography, and heavy reliance on a single fibre link operated by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, with repeated fibre cuts having led to prolonged outages and complete blackouts in several areas.
In the letter, PTA directed the General Manager of Construction for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the National Highway Authority to instruct all concerned formations and contractors to strictly comply with coordination protocols involving telecom operators, warning that avoidable fiber cuts not only interrupt communication services but also create difficulties for residents, businesses, and emergency response systems operating in remote districts like Chitral. PTA also shared contact details of focal persons from major telecom operators, including Zong, Ufone, Telenor Pakistan, Jazz, and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, to facilitate direct coordination with relevant departments. The sharing of focal person contacts is a practical step intended to remove the institutional friction that has allowed repeated cuts to occur without advance notification or preventive measures. The issue of coordination with the National Highway Authority to prevent telecom infrastructure damage during development projects had also been raised at the Senate Standing Committee on Less Developed Areas earlier this year, where committee members stressed that development projects typically begin with the National Highway Authority, followed by other institutions, and that this sequencing creates coordination gaps that consistently result in infrastructure damage.
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