Visitors to the breathtakingly
beautiful Neelum Valley of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will no more remain disconnected
with the rest of the world this summer, as telecom services in the area have
been ameliorated by a state run telecom monopoly.
Col Mohammad Ali Nadeem, AJK Sector Commander
of the Special Communications Organisation (SCO), a subsidiary of Pakistan
army, told this scribe that the utility had not only improved its fixed line
phone and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet services, but had also
upgraded its mobile telephone service (GSM) across the state, particularly the
areas popular with the tourists.
While the rest of AJK was thrown open for
multinational cellular companies after the 2005 earthquake, Neelum and Leepa
valleys in Muzaffarabad division and Haveli district in Poonch division that
straddle the heavily militarized Line of Control (LoC) remained an exception apparently
because of the alleged security concerns.
Residents of these areas have long raised hue
and cry over the ban in the wake of discontentment with SCO’s fixed-line phone
service in general and mobile phone facility, namely SCOM, in particular.
Explaining the reason for the lack of
communication services in these areas Col Nadeem said the difficult terrain had
made it hard to provide better services before
“Even if these areas were also thrown open
for the multi-national companies, trust me hardly anyone would have ventured
there on account of the difficult terrain and insignificant revenue gains,” he asserted.
Citing shifting of two base transceiver
stations (BTS) by a leading cellular company from along the Jhelum valley road allegedly
due to low returns, he said: “Quite the contrary, we cannot do that, because we
are not here to net profits but to serve the public.”
To substantiate his claim, he said each of
the at least 35 out of 90 DSL BTS installed by SCO were generating hardly Rs
2000 against a maintenance cost of Rs 11000 per day but those were not closed
or shifted elsewhere.
“Whatever the whether, our men are always on
their toes for the upkeep of network and that has no parallel in other
organisations,” he said.
Coming back to Neelum valley, Col Nadeem said
11 DSL BTS had already been installed and another 4 were in the process of
installation there to boost the services.
The valley has been witnessing an unprecedented
tourist boom particularly in summers due to the truce along the LoC and
improvement of road network between Muzaffarabad and Athmuqam, a few years ago.
Recently the federal government has announced to upgrade road network from
Athmuqam to the last awe-inspiring resort – namely Taobutt.
However, until two years ago the tourists were
experiencing almost a complete communication blackout, delinking them from
their families and friends in downstream areas.
“Now not only mobile phone services have been extended to Kel, in
the upper belt of the valley, but DSL facilities have also been made available in
almost all towns along the tourist routes,” Col Nadeem said.
The utility had
also introduced tourist SIM cards in Neelum valley to facilitate the nature
lovers, he added.
Of the less
visited Leepa valley, he said SCO had launched DSL and mobile phone services
there as well, though on a limited scale in the beginning.
Tariq Naqash
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