ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Monday alerted the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecom about the imminent threat of severe network disruptions across Pakistan if the licences for Long Distance International (LDI) companies are not renewed at the earliest. A meeting of the committee, chaired by Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, addressed the ongoing issues related to the renewal of LDI and Fixed Line Local Loop (FLL) licences, The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman, Major General (retd) Hafeezur Rehman, briefed the committee on the matter, highlighting that the issue primarily affects four companies, including Wateen, which has an extensive fibre optic infrastructure across 24 cities, primarily in Balochistan and interior Sindh. He said Wateen was also connected to 44 banks and Nadra, making its network critical to the country’s communications infrastructure. Despite a committee being formed to resolve the licence renewal issue, no progress has been made so far. Wateen’s licence expired in July 2024, but the company secured a stay order from the court, allowing it to continue operations. The committee chairperson said that failure to renew these licences could lead to significant losses, he added. The PTA chief informed the meeting that five LDI companies were willing to pay their outstanding dues, while others have filed legal challenges. The licences for these companies were set to expire between July and August, with around 15 cases currently pending in court. He also acknowledged that in 2020, companies were permitted to pay their dues in installments, but the same relief cannot be granted this year.The committee discussed the Rs54 billion exemption sought by the LDI companies. It was noted that the former IT secretary had issued a policy directive on the matter, which was opposed by officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), claiming the directive exceeded the secretary’s authority.