Telenor gives free SIMS in quake-hit areas
LAHORE (October 11 2005): Telenor Pakistan, in an effort to enable emergency communication in far flung areas in the wake of Saturday's massive earthquake, has opened its network in advance in several of the most adversely impacted cities.
According to a press release issued here on Monday, Telenor has made its services available in Mansehra and Abbottabad on an urgent basis and is providing free SIMS and services to the Ministry of Interior's National Crisis Management Cell in order to ensure connectivity for emergency communications.
Telenor is also working hard to set up network access to Balakot, one of the towns hardest hit by the calamity. Director Communication Syed Hasnat Masood said currently, one of the foremost issues for rescue agencies in ensuring timely emergency reasons was the difficulty to communicate with those remote areas since earthquake had left phone lines in disarray.
"We have rolled out access urgently in order to respond to this need. Telenor set up camps at the Margallah Towers, emergency site, at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences and at the Islamabad Poly Clinic, offering free calls to the injured, their family members and emergency workers and asked people to make use of these services," he added.