THARPARKAR district covers 19,638 square kilometers with a population of approximately one million. He has seven talukas; Chachro, Diplo, Mithi, Nagarparkar, Dhali, Islamkot and Kaloi, having together around 2,500 small and large villages.
A high-speed and quality Internet service is no longer a luxury in a globalized and digitized world where today most of our tasks are carried out in the virtual domain. Developing countries have made progress in science and technology. Embarrassingly, as the global community explores and deliberates the possibility of life on Mars, we are still struggling to provide quality and equitable education, as well as fast and smooth internet service.
After learning Information Technology (IT) and other similar skills, Tharparkar freelancers sell their skills to the international market through various online marketplaces while using the internet.
Unfortunately, despite their potential for growth, these up-and-coming freelancers and others often feel frustrated when faced with poor internet service. Due to this situation, it takes 5-10 minutes to even send messages and download things on WhatsApp, voice and video calls are interrupted, while it takes several minutes to perform a simple Google search.
While people in this part of the country have long faced myriad problems and freelance work has given them hope in this frustrating environment, the slow internet has compounded their problems.
Although two cellular service providers in the region offer premium rate plans to their customers, they provide poor quality internet service throughout Tharparkar. As a result, subscribed packages are wasted, while telecom companies make windfall profits.
In these difficult times when there are hardly any job opportunities, selling skills online is a beacon of hope for freelancers. On the other hand, the government can also bring foreign currency into the country by facilitating the independent community of Tharparkar when the country is already short of foreign exchange reserves.
Competent authorities should hold these mobile companies accountable and require them to ensure the provision of quality services to their customers for a smooth and lucrative Internet experience.
Dolat Chandani
Mithi
Posted in Dawn, August 13, 2022
