According to reliable sources, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has decided to tighten down on tv and internet copper wires dangling from electrical poles.
According to the telecom authority, it has come to its notice that operators place their wires on distribution firms’ infrastructure, and accidents occur as a result of internet and TV cables breaking and hanging from electrical poles and laying on the ground.
PTA has also launched a nationwide survey to ensure that no licensee is using electric poles to provide services through copper cables.
The authority has issued new instructions, instructing all Fixed Local Loop (FLL) and Long Distance International (LDI) operators to lay overhead and subterranean internet lines in accordance with International Telecommunication Union standards.
According to the material made accessible to pakmatters, PTA’s licensees mostly use Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) to provide internet services throughout the nation. Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) uses optical or light-based technologies to transmit data.
The fibre is constructed of a dielectric substance that does not carry electricity. According to a case study of human electrocution in Karachi, the bulk of wires in the region belong to cable television companies.
Electricity distribution firms, according to the PTA documentation, are engaged in authorising copper lines to be put on poles.
The main distribution firms, including K-Electric, charge Rs.10 per pole to facilitate copper cable laying. PTA has also given NEPRA and other distribution firms with OFC cable laying specifications specified by the International Telecommunication Union.
Copper wires are not allowed to be hung on electric poles; thus, these wires should be removed from electric poles quickly to prevent accidents.
When laying optical fibre cables on electric poles, the PTA has asked the operators to keep a specific distance from power lines.
