The dysfunctional Pakistan Telecommunication Authority missed the South Asian Telecommunications Regulators' Council (SATRC-18) in Kathmandu, Nepal, and hence lost the opportunity to get the slot of vice chairman of the body. Pakistan was likely to host the SATRC meeting as well as get the chairmanship next year, but due to failure to attend the meeting this year and become the vice chairman, the chances for next year are meager, officials sources revealed to Business Recorder.
The 18th meeting of the South Asian Telecommunications Regulators' Council (SATRC-18) was scheduled to hold from December 19-21, 2017 in Kathmandu, Nepal, organized by Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT). It is being hosted by Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).
The SATRC meetings are held annually and attended by heads of telecommunication regulatory authorities in the South Asia region, senior officials of the ministries and departments and senior officials /representatives of the industry. The SATRC meets annually to discuss the key policy and regulatory issues of concern to the SATRC members.
Official sources revealed that the PTA failed to get approval from quarters concerned and was told that as there is no PTA chairman in place; hence, approval could not be granted. The tenure of former Chairman PTA Ismail Shah completed on November 13, while former Member Finance PTA Tariq Sultan completed his four years term on September 26, 2017. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abassi rejected extension for another tenure to both the officials.
Sources further feared piling up of policy related matters in coming days as currently the PTA is being run by a single member (enforcement) with additional charge of chairman. However, the sources said that the member cannot take administrative related decisions and can just run day-to-day affairs.
The SATRC-18 for this year includes Regulator's Roundtable, industry-regulator dialogue and industry session. At the Regulators' Roundtable, the heads of the regulators will exchange opinion and share experiences on regulatory challenges and discuss the possible way forward. The regulators will also identify the possible areas of cooperation in South Asia through SATRC.
The industry-regulator dialogue will facilitate the exchange of opinions among industry and regulators on the challenging issues of regulations and ways to overcome the challenges collectively and facilitate the business environment. The industry session will give opportunity to the industry to raise their views and concerns on the current and future regulatory trends and their expectations from the regulators.
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