A court in Karachi has ordered a private internet service provider to compensate a customer with Rs50,000 for subpar service. The ruling was issued by the Consumer Protection Court South after a complaint from Khalique Ahmed, who alleged repeated poor internet performance and inadequate customer support, despite multiple complaints to the company. The court mandated that the company pay the Rs50,000 damages and also deposit a Rs5,000 fine into the national treasury. Additionally, the court instructed the provider to enhance its service quality to ensure consumers experience consistent, reliable internet access.
In other news, Pakistan raised $510 million (Rs142.6 billion) from a major auction of Next Generation Mobile Services spectrum. This was announced by Hafeez Ur Rehman, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, alongside Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja, after the completion of the multi-band spectrum auction. The auction sold 480 MHz of spectrum on March 10, generating nearly $507 million, which amounts to approximately Rs142 billion for the government. An additional $3 million was earned through a subsequent position assignment auction for 5G spectrum blocks, bringing the total revenue to $510 million. Hafeez Ur Rehman emphasized that the government’s role ended with conducting the auction, and the onus is now on telecom operators to leverage this spectrum to improve services for consumers.