ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) is showing reluctance in compliance with the regulatory authority's decision to reduce bandwidth rates, which were to be notified by June 30.
Senior PTCL official Mashkoor Husain said he was not aware of any such plans of the company. PTCL media point-man Ali Qadir Gillini, however, confidently told The News on Friday that the company would implement the PTA decision by Monday (July 3).
By Tuesday night, the PTCL had not issued the delayed decision. The News also learnt through sources in the headquarters that the legal wizards are working to block the decision through litigation. There is no official confirmation available about perusal of the legal course.
Presently there is only one active player -- PTCL -- providing International Bandwidth through SMW-3 (South East Asia Middle East and Western Europe) SMW-4 and Fiber Optic Link around the Globe (FLAG). Effective competition has not yet emerged in the bandwidth business segment.
On June 23, Major General (retd) Shahzada Alam, chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), announced "substantial reduction in different slabs of international bandwidth tariffs" in a bid to accelerate the spread of broadband services in the country.
The final hearing to this effect was conducted by the authority comprising PTA Chairman Shahzada Alam Malik, Member Finance Syed Nasrul Karim A Ghaznvi and Member Technical Dr. Mohammad Yasin and private sector telecom representatives.
The operators had presented their recommendations and suggestions for the growth of broadband services. The authority after considering these recommendations announced that the bandwidth tariffs of PTCL should be in accordance with the international trends to attract the foreign consumers and to facilitate local subscribers.
Issuing a detailed determination on bandwidth tariffs and broadband issues, the authority had directed PTCL to reduce its tariffs. As for International Private Leased Circuit (IPLC) tariffs effective from July 1, 2006 the E1(2M bps) for ISPs will be $3,000 instead of $3,950 whereas for call centres it would be $2,400 instead of $3,500. Similarly for DS3 (45 M bps) ISPs will pay $39,000 instead of $67,150 and call centres will be charged $ 31,200 instead of $57,150. STM 1 (155 M bps) price will be $ 84,000 and 67,200 for ISPs and call centres respectively. From January 1, 2007 the tariffs for Voiced Data Services have been merged and will go down further to $2,400, 28,800 and 67,200 for E1, DS3 & STM1 respectively.
Similarly data & voice services rates of Internet Protocol (IP) had also been reduced significantly. For Data Services IP rates for ISPs and call centres will be reduced in two phases. From July 1, 2006 E1 rates will be $1,400 instead of $2,000, DS3 will be $22,400 instead of $31,348 and STM 1 will be $43,400 instead of 76,000. Tariff will be revised from January 1, 2007 and E1 will come to 1,200, DS 3 to 16,800 and STM 1 to $37,200. Furthermore IP tariffs for Voice Services for Long Distance and International (LDI) operators have also been revised and reduced by 47% to 49%, which would be effective from July 1, 2006.
The authority also reduced the Domestic Private Leased Circuits (DPLC) tariffs for Data Network Operators (DNOP) by 35%. Similarly, DPLC tariffs for voice services have been reduced by 20% to 30%. The site clearance fee for Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) of Rs29,000 being charged by PTA is waived off with immediate effect.
The authority also announced that DSL line rent of Rs250 being charged by PTCL to other DSL operators is abolished immediately. PTCL has also been asked to review its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for co location to resolve the complaints of broadband service providers. It may be noted that PTA has issued a detailed determination on broadband to facilitate the growth of broadband and related services in the country.
The News learnt that the PTCL is not comfortable with fresh rate reduction and is planning to challenge the decision in the court. Interestingly while announcing the decision, the PTA chairman said the industry has been approaching the authority for quite some time to regulate the bandwidth tariffs. He had noted that the private sector players had been emphasizing that the tariffs charged by PTCL are abnormally high and thus do not give them any competitive advantage in the International Market.
"Moreover, some investors have also contested that the current tariff structure is discouraging them to make investment in Pakistan as it is cheaper to acquire these facilities from other Asian countries," Shahzada Alam had said.
"Keeping in view the importance of the issue, PTA has decided to regulate IPLC and IP tariffs . . . In this regard, PTCL has been directed to review and rationalise its international bandwidth prices, remove the distortions and submit a comprehensive proposal for all categories of international bandwidth rates," he had pointed out.
Earlier, the PTA arranged a consultation paper in which a detailed study was carried out for the spread of broadband in the country. The suggestions and recommendation of the industry were also incorporated to rationalise IPLC/IP tariffs. A hearing was also conducted on June 06, 2006 to conclude the consultation process.
When asked to comment on the delay, senior PTA official said, "The authority is observing the situation closely and would ensure its decision is fully respected and implemented."
Referring to past experience of PTCL reluctance in rate reduction, the official hoped, "the private sector management of PTCL would not send a negative signal to its bandwidth subscribers by using delaying tactics."
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=14194
I wonder where the govt. is sleeping!
