ISLAMABAD: Amid the admission of poor quality of services, the cellular mobile operators (CMOs) demanded 250 percent increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) i.e. from 80 cents to two dollars to meet growing expenses, on account of the policy of pegging licence price with the US dollar and issues in the opening of Letters of Credit (LCs).
“Due to high fluctuation in dollar rate and high-interest rate, work on current as well as future business plans have halted,” said Mudassir Hussain, Vice President of Jazz, while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on behalf of the CMOs, whose representatives were also present.
The parliamentary panel met with Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali in the chair here on Monday, which expressed grave concern over poor service and weak signals problems of mobile network companies across the country. The committee directed that telecom companies may improve their services in the best possible way within their available resources.
Moratorium on QoS: PTA rejects CMOs’ demand
“All is not good,” said Hussain, while replying to committee members’ concerns over poor telecom services, added that there are several issues including the lowest ARPU almost globally. Pakistan is 237th cheapest among the 239 countries, said Hussain, adding that with the current ARPU, they cannot compete with the EU or the US where it is around 40 dollars. “We do not need other relief, but just increase the ARPU from the current 80 cents to two dollar”, he added. The CMOs spent unbudgeted billions of rupees during the last few months to meet growing expenses, he added.
Member Telecom Ministry of IT and Telecom Muhammad Omar Malik held the delay in court decisions as a major reason for the delay in rollout obligations, which according to him caused loss to Pakistan.
The Pakistan Telecom-munication Authority (PTA) apprised the committee about the independent surveys conducted in the district of Chitral, however, the surveys proved that the quality of network services was found below the required standards. The PTA would initiate action against the telecom operator –Telenor and its report would also be shared with the committee.
Director General Licensing PTA Brig Amer Shahzad (retired) said that the government is all set to launch National Roaming in areas of Balochistan which are covered under the USF to increase connectivity and facilitate investment in the province, especially in Gwadar. He further said that recently-renewed cellular mobile licenses have enhanced rollout obligations. In the next six years, the network rollout obligations in terms of percentage population coverage of voice and mobile broadband shall be increased by three percent on a yearly basis in each province.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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