PTCL fibre rollout in Karachi sparks backlash over landline bundle

A growing telecom dispute in Karachi has pushed Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, or PTCL, into the centre of public attention after customers said they were being told to purchase the company’s internet service or risk losing their long-held landline connections. The issue surfaced on Monday as fibre-optic installation work continued in several neighbourhoods, especially in parts of Defence Housing Authority, where residents reported that their old copper-based phone lines had stopped working during the transition.

According to the report, a number of subscribers said PTCL representatives informed them that the legacy landline system was being replaced with fibre infrastructure and that voice service would now be tied to the company’s broadband package. For many customers, the problem is not simply about upgrading technology. It is about being required to take a bundled product even when they already use another internet provider and only want to keep a landline number that may have been in the family or business for years.

Residents told the newspaper that the pressure was both financial and practical. Some said they had already switched away from PTCL internet in previous years because of reliability issues and had no intention of returning, while others argued that paying for a second connection made little sense when they were satisfied with private broadband services already installed in their homes. In several cases, consumers said their landlines had remained dead for weeks before they received calls linking restoration of service to acceptance of an internet package.

The controversy appears to have spread beyond one upscale locality. Similar complaints were reported from Nazimabad, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal and Federal B Area, suggesting the matter may reflect a broader service migration strategy rather than an isolated neighbourhood problem. The report also said the issue was actively discussed in local WhatsApp groups, where residents compared experiences, questioned billing terms and tried to determine whether PTCL was offering a genuine trial period or a prepaid bundle that would lock them into continued payments after the initial months.

One of the most sensitive aspects of the dispute is the value attached to landline numbers themselves. Many households and small businesses still rely on old PTCL numbers for identity, continuity and official contact records, even if they no longer use the company’s internet connection. That makes the decision harder for customers who feel they are being pushed into an unwanted product simply to preserve an established phone line. In a city where internet competition has increased, the complaint is less about upgrading technology and more about consumer choice.

The transition from copper networks to fibre is not unusual in telecom markets, and in principle it can improve service quality, support faster data delivery and reduce maintenance problems tied to ageing infrastructure. But such transitions usually become controversial when customers believe they have not been properly informed, given sufficient alternatives or protected from forced bundling. In Karachi, that appears to be the core of the backlash: users are not necessarily rejecting modernisation, but they do object to what they see as a take-it-or-leave-it arrangement.

The newspaper reported that at least one written PTCL response to a customer complaint stated that in the flash-fibre setup, internet is the primary product and standalone landline service is not available. That explanation may clarify the company’s technical position, but it is unlikely to settle the wider debate over fairness, pricing and subscriber rights. It attempted multiple times to obtain PTCL’s formal version for publication, but the company’s spokesperson did not respond before the story was filed.

The dispute could have implications beyond Karachi. If PTCL adopts the same model in other urban centres, regulators and consumer protection bodies may eventually face pressure to define whether legacy voice subscribers can be compelled to migrate into bundled broadband products. Telecom operators are increasingly restructuring networks around fibre, yet public acceptance of those changes will depend on transparency and flexibility, not just speed claims.

For now, the Karachi complaints have turned a technical network upgrade into a public consumer issue with broader relevance for Pakistan’s digital transition. What happens next will likely depend on whether PTCL offers clearer options to retain landlines without mandatory internet packages or whether authorities step in to review the terms of service migration. Until then, the story is likely to remain one of the day’s most discussed local technology and consumer rights developments.