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By Ahtasam Ahmad
f bad network quality has been haunting you lately, then you should know that you are not alone. As the energy situation has deteriorated in the past few months, telecom operators have also faced the brunt of it. Telecom tower sites consume a considerable amount of energy, and power outages coupled with cost hikes have put the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMO) in a terrible fix.
TELECOM
Yet, power outages are not a new phenomenon and the telcos have been tackling this problem by arranging backup power supplies, primarily through generators. But, off late, they have decided to make a strategic choice by limiting the self generation of power and letting the sites go down in case of load shedding. The telcos are of the view that energy price hikes driven by rising cost of fuel has negatively impacted their profitability and the situation is becoming unsustainable. “Operating costs shoot up due to exorbitant generator fuel and maintenance costs.
More reliance on generators means more frequent refueling and more pilferage. For a low ARPU market like Pakistan, this is a matter of grave concern for all telecom operators,” said Salman Khalili, Head of Telecom Energy Solutions at Reon Energy. The tipping point of this matter was back in June when the telcos wrote to PTA, “In the absence of immediate reversal of adverse directives and elimination of electricity load shedding, the telecom operators would unfortunately be constrained to notify the Force Majeure situation under special circum-
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