ISLAMABAD – A purported notice from the Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority (PTA) was shared more than 1,000 times on WhatsApp and Facebookclaiming mobile services from provider Telenor would discontinue inPakistan from December 2019. The claim is false; both the PTA and Telenorhave refuted the claim and said the notice is fake.
The purported notice has been shared more than 1,200 times since it waspublished here link Facebook on November 24,2019.
The announcement bears the PTA link logo and thelink to its website, pta.gov.pk.
The Urdu-language text in the image translates to English as: “PublicNotice. All Telenor customers are advised by PTA to use their balance(prepaid credit) at the earliest and if customers are using Easypaisa(mobile vault) then they should transfer their money into a bank account orto another network and if the customers do not want to change their (mobilephone) numbers then they should port their network to any other network byDecember 10, 2019. From December 11, 2019 no (telecom) service of Telenorwill work”.
Telenor Pakistan link is a local mobile data anddigital services provider link ownedby Norwegian company Telenor group.
The English-language caption of the Facebook post states: “End of TelenorService for ever in pak watan”.
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Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post
The same image was shared here link, herelink, here link herelink Facebook.
However, the claim is false; both the PTA and Telenor have refuted theclaim and confirmed the notice is fake.
“PTA is aware of a false advertisement circulating via WhatsApp chat groupsfor users of a mobile operator. PTA clarifies that the aforementionedadvertisement is fake,” the Authority stated in a tweetlink published onNovember 25, 2019. -APP/AFP
