PTCL fined Rs. 82 million by PTA

PTCL fined Rs. 82 million by PTA

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has been heavily fined with Rs. 82.496 million by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for unauthorised use of extra radio frequency spectrum.

PTCL was send a notice from PTA, ordering the company to pay the fine for unauthorised usage of frequency spectrum within next 30 working days to avoid any further legal actions. PTCL has been reported to use extra bandwidth to
provide better internet facilities and improved signal strength to its customers on constant basis.

PTA took the action against PTCL after a group of internet service providing companies complained about this unauthorised usage. PTA has ordered PTCL to stop the unauthorised use of radio frequency spectrum with immediate effect
and pay the fined amount within the sated time limit to avoid further inconvenience. More severe actions will be taken against PTCL if such complains reach PTA in the future.

“PTCL was using an extra bandwidth to provide better internet service through its WLL (wireless local loop) connections and to maintain signal strength,” Wahaj-us-Siraj, convenor of the group, told the press reporters. He cited
that PTCL’s this illegal move have caused serious damage to their customers, who have started to shift to PTCL for the better quality services.

Mr. Siraj further told that PTCL has been using this extra bandwidth in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi, which is a clear breach of PTA regulations. PTCL must be stopped immediately from doing this in future and it has
been rightly fined with Rs. 82 million.

“The PTCL was using 1975-1981.875 to 1895-1901.875 MHz, thus occupying extra 3.75 MHz of band which was not originally allocated to it,” Mr Siraj insisted.

PTCL was privatised in 2008, when UAE’s Etisalat took over its acquisition. Etisalat has still not fully paid up the sale proceeds of PTCL to the government of Pakistan and has withheld $800 million since 2008. It is expected that
the UAE’s company will pay this withheld this amount to the government of Pakistan by the end of this year but PTCL has to pay its due fine on much urgenly.

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Posted by Farhan Hameed on Nov 4 2011. Filed under Business, Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry