Restoration of telecom links in disaster zone nearing completion, says Awais
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari Saturday said repair and rehabilitation of the telecommunication network in Azad Kashmir and northern areas affected by the earthquake, was in full swing and the whole system would become operational within the next few days.
"Restoration of telecommunications links is extremely critical for supporting the disaster relief operations in the earthquake struck region and we are doing all we can to put these links back in place," he said in a statement released to the media following a high-level meeting chaired by him to review progress on the repair and rehabilitation of the telecommunication system in the disaster zone.
The minister said that the earthquake that ravaged a large swathe of the population also damaged 48 of 132 total telephone exchanges operating in AJ&K region. As a consequence, the number of disrupted lines was 20,173 out of total 104,433 installed lines in the area. Moreover, 10 microwave stations also got disrupted as a result of the deadly earthquake. He said the government launched the repair work immediately after the quake and so far 22 exchanges in AJ&K area had been repaired resulting in restoration of 14,747 telephone lines. Among the 10 Microwave stations, only one was yet to be operational.
The minister informed that in the northern areas where telecom services are provided by Special Communication Organization, 635 out of 24,249 installed lines were disrupted but all of them were restored promptly by October 10 2005.
He said the PTCL besides rectifying faults in the telephone lines, had also donated 50 satellite-phone terminals to SCO for use in AJ&K areas where telecom services had ceased to exist or were not available. He said 43 free satellite-phone PCOs were also currently operating in the affected area while another 15 satellite telephone terminals obtained from ITU had also been dispatched for installation in the affected areas.
Awais Leghari further said that earthquake also caused serious damage to the PTCL telecommunication network in its Hazara Telecom Region (HTR) where 19 exchanges were rendered out of service affecting a total number of 13,902. "So far, 12 telephone exchanges have been restored, resulting in restoration of 11,502 lines while efforts are afoot to restore remaining 7 telephone exchanges containing 2400 lines.
He added that a repeater at Tundi had also been repaired by 15:00 hrs on 16 October 2005. The equipment was air lifted through an army aviation helicopter. He hoped the restoration of Tundi repeater would further enable revival of Jared and Kiwai (2) exchanges, for which arrangements were under way. He said new containerized exchange had also been installed and commissioned at 10:00 hrs on October 17, 2005, helping restore 300 broken lines.
The minister also said that due to an abnormal increase in tele-traffic towards affected areas, especially remote places of Hazara division connected to Digital Transit Exchange Abbottabad. "To rectify this situation, circuit availability between Rawalpindi-Islamabad & Abbottabad was increased from 150 circuits to 360 circuits on 9th October 2005 followed by another 150 circuits on 10th October 2005 due to a continued high traffic volume," he said, adding the Peshawar-Abbotabad route had also been enhanced with 60 additional circuits to take over-flow traffic of Muzaffarabad.
Similarly, he said PTCL had provided 1170 additional circuits to connect to SCO network in the AJK area. The communication system in the region had been boosted by 45 outgoing and 17 incoming free PCOs set up by PTCL in the region.
The minister said offers of help from the international telecommunication community were pouring in, and the SCO which is charged with providing communication services to the region, had been made the focal point for all such assistance. "The enormity of the task in front of us is such that we are glad to accept all offers of assistance, in particular for telecommunications services, since without information, it is next to impossible to coordinate the relief effort," he said. He said the World Economic Forum had also offered to deploy wirless based/satellite solution for restoring the telecom links in the quake-hit region. "Shortly their experts will be visiting Pakistan to have feasibility and deployment of wireless based infrastructure," he said.