Since the inception of Pakistan, basic telecom services were being provided by a monopolist, previously called as Telephone and Telegraph department (T&T). The department was being run by the Government and played multiple roles of regulator, policy maker and operator in the country. The T&T department was later converted into a corporation. Although the corporation was earning huge profits from the services, it was reinvesting the same profits into the sector for the provision of more telecom services but the investment was not enough. Further, with the technological advancement, more and more telecom services were becoming available but there was not enough money available with the corporation to install new telecom systems for the provision of modern services. Resultantly, a digital divide prevailed in Pakistan and we remained far behind our neighbors and other comparable countries in terms of telecom access.

In order to cope with the above situation, Government decided to deregulate the telecom sector in order to bring foreign and private investment in the sector. The Pakistan Telecommunication Ordinance 1994 established the primary regulatory framework for the telecommunication industry including the establishment of an authority. Thereafter, Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act no XVII was promulgated in 1996 that aimed to reorganize the telecom sector of Pakistan. Under Telecom Reorganization Act 1996, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was established in January 1997 to regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems, and the provision of telecom services.

PTA has significantly played its role in the growth of telecom sector. PTA issued 12 licenses to LDI operators last year. Since then, there has been a significant drop in the long distance and international calling rates. This is of course in the interest of Pakistani consumer and it shows that PTA has been successful in protecting the interests of consumers.

Because of the increased competition in the sector some LDI operators have started unhealthy practices. Most of these practices relate to prepaid calling cards. Some operators are charging more than their advertised rates. There are some other operators which are not giving the announced talk time to the consumer. What they are doing is that they count one minute after 40 or 50 seconds. Now of course consumer does not monitor the call time with a stop watch. Then there are operators who charge you two minutes for one minute call. There are also some committed operators who are giving to the consumers what they are committing. But my point is that if a few operators keep on going with these unhealthy practices they are definitely going to dominate the market. This will make difficult for other operators to survive. So in order to survive they will also start these unhealthy practices. This will definitely hurt the interests of consumers.

In order to fulfill its duty of protecting the interests of consumers and in order to increase healthy competition in the sector, PTA should take notice of these unhealthy practices and penalize the operators involved in such activitie.

The writer is Marketing & Sales Coordinator at Circlenet Communications Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd