PTA renews PTCL’s integrated license for next 25 years

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has renewed Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (PTCL) integrated license for the next 25 years.

“PTA has renewed PTCL integrated license for the next 25 years, effective from 1st Jan 2021. License is technology-neutral & PTCL shall be able to provide all state-of-the-art telecom services under renewed license except mobile services across the country in 14 telecom regions”, said regulatory authority on Wednesday.

PR: PTA has renewed PTCL integrated license for next 25 years, effective from 1st Jan 2021. License is technology neutral & PTCL shall be able to provide all state-of the-art telecom services under renewed license except mobile services across the country in 14 telecom regions. pic.twitter.com/HbmXgJ4nmL

— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) January 13, 2021

The regulatory authority also shared the details of conditions of renewed license for the national telecommunication company in a series of tweets on Wednesday, stating:

In order to have enhanced quality of services (QoS) parameters, the renewed license entails conditions including a 5% annual increase of Next Generation Access Network (NGAN) connections and QoS service parameters as per international standards.

Conditions related to Consumer Protection, helpline services, commercial agreement obligations, and others have also been included in the license.

The license fee shall comprise 0.66 % of the annual gross revenue of the licensee paid upfront whereas 0.5% shall be paid annual license fees and 2% for USF and R&D Fund.

For the already allocated WLL spectrum, the price has been linked with the USD to be deposited by PTCL every year. PTCL will be able to use Radio Frequency Spectrum till 2024, as per the existing allocation.

The licensee shall ensure consumer data privacy and network security. As per license conditions, PTA shall monitor service quality periodically.