Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has initiated the COVID-19 awareness campaign and has sent 1028.5 million messages to mobile phone users to empower them with knowledge and aware them to take preventive measures against the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Awareness messages in urdu and English have been sent to the travelers or suspected persons who may have come into contact with coronavirus patients during traveling. More than 0.58 million messages have been delivered to the travelers and suspected persons since March 19 2020, the offical of PTA told media.
Similarly, Corona Awareness Ring Back Tones (RBTs) have been started on 131.75 million subscribers’ mobile devices to help organizers of educational institutions, call centers etc.
72 IPs have been functional since March,19.
PTA has arranged 12 various shortcodes and 6 UAN (Toll Free) numbers to government entities working on checking the pandemic. PTA has also helped in arranging donations by Mobile users in ‘Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020′.
Mobile subscribers can donate Rs 20/SMS by sending text messages on code 6677. PTA is also closely supervising the measures taken by all telecom operators amid Covid-19 pandemic in Pakistan.
To increase awareness about TeleSchool – Pakistan’s first education channel for students (a joint project of Pakistan Television Ltd and the Ministry of Education), 93.15 million SMS messages have been sent. Furthermore, to help operations of educational institutions, and call centers etc., 120 IPs have been whitelisted since 19th March 2020. PTA has also allocated 14 different short codes and 6 UAN (Toll Free) numbers to Government entities working on controlling the pandemic.
The telecom operators have started many offers/initiatives for their subscribers. Some are offering discounts or temporary upgrades at low or no cost during the crisis to help their subscribers stay connected. Details of these offers/packages are being regularly updated on PTA website: www.pta.gov.pk
