Countrywide Call Centres operational again

* Govt should reverse charges, reimburse salaries: CCAP president

By Hamid Waleed

LAHORE: All call centres throughout Pakistan started operating again and were connected to the first world on Friday after restoration of the undersea cable.

Most of the 35 call centres, which had shut down after the collapse of undersea cable on June 27, called their staff back from indefinite leave.

Some of the call centres reported minor fluctuations in the connection. Their experts said that the restoration work had yet to finalise.

Farrukh Aslam, Call Centres Association of Pakistan (CCAP) president, asked the government to compensate the call centres for the losses that they incurred due to PTCL’s poor infrastructure.

“The government charges us $2000 for 2-mega-bit per second in advance, which should be reversed immediately. They should also reimburse the salaries paid to the employees of the four functional call centres during the breakdown,” Aslam said.

Many international clients cancelled their contracts when they came to know about the collapse of the Internet cable. Aslam said that some of the call centres secured their clients by not charging them during the breakdown.

The call centres tried to operate on the backup VSAT available to them but all in vain.

Centres Association of Pakistan President said that the matter should be investigated and an alternative cable should be provided to avoid any such mishap in the future.

Danish Iqbal, call centre owner in Islamabad, said they had notified their clients in Europe and rest of the world about restoration of the link with the international community. “The next step is to get back those clients who have left us during last 11 days,” he said.

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