Pakistan Today

Mobile phone services launched in South Waziristan

Hamid Khan Wazir

In this photograph taken from a Pakistani army helicopter on May 20, 2016, empty houses whose roofs have been removed by the army during an operation are seen in the South Waziristan tribal district on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. House after house flicks by hundreds of feet beneath a military helicopter, many distinguished by one arresting feature: their roofs have been removed by the army to allow an "aerial view" of militants who may take refuge there. South Waziristan was once a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, but the military says the region in the country's mountainous northwest has been cleared of its last militant stronghold. / AFP PHOTO / SHAUKAT KHATTAK / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: Pakistan unrest Waziristan military operation, FOCUS by Shaukat Khattak

ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented development, the people of the long-deprived and war-weary district of South Waziristan would now enjoy mobile phone services.

According to details, a long-standing demand has been fulfilled as mobile phone services have been launched in Wana, the headquarter of South Waziristan.

AWAL Telecom in collaboration with one of country’s largest cellular operator marked another milestone by facilitating the formal launch of cellular mobile services on its tower infrastructure in South Waziristan, bridging the communication divide of the South Waziristan people for the first time.

“Telecommunication and connectivity are the key factors of sustainable economic development of the FATA areas which were long-deprived of these pivotal elements. And AWAL Telecom is the only Tower Company which has taken this initiative to light up these areas by establishing Telecom Tower Infrastructures to provide a ready platform to the cellular operators for launching their services,” AWAL’s spokesperson Khurram Shehzad said.

Amid rising tensions on the active borders of the country, the provisioning of the communication facility to the remotes and tele-deprived people of the erstwhile FATA has further strengthened their patriotic spirits by providing connectivity between themselves and the rest of the country.

AWAL Telecom has played a vital role in the context of the infrastructure completion, connectivity and services provisioning in Wana. AWAL’s services shall be extended to the other areas of South Waziristan and North Waziristan district very soon, Shehzad confirmed.

It is pertinent to mention here that Mobilink was the only available service in a limited area of Wana. However, the mobile service remained suspended for almost ten years due to the war against terrorism, which was restored last year after the restoration of peace in the area.

The people of the area were facing great problems to communicate with their loved ones and relatives living elsewhere in the country due to non-availability of service mobile service.

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