ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) disposed of the appeal of A Zee Internet Service Providers (SMC-Pvt) Limited against termination of license, while concluding that the appellant has failed to comply with the regulatory compliance, ie, terms and conditions of license as well as directions with regard to submission of Annual Audited Accounts (AAAs) and payment of Annual License Fee (ALF).
The authority comprising Maj Gen Hafeezur Rehman (retired) Chairman, Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar and Member (Compliance and Enforcement) Muhammad Naveed Member (Finance) heard the appeal for restoration of license.
A Zee Internet Service Providers (SMC-Pvt) Ltd (the Appellant) was awarded a non-exclusive license dated 24th October 2019 (the "license") by the Authority to establish, maintain and operate Data Class Value Added Services in Punjab subject to the terms and conditions contained in the license.
Being aggrieved from termination of license intimated by the officer of the Authority through letter dated 6th April 2023 (the "Impugned Letter"), the Appellant under section 7 (2) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (the "Act") filed an appeal before the Authority.
The background of the case is that due to the non-submission of AAAs and non-payment of ALF for the year 2021, a show cause notice (SCN) was issued, wherein, the appellant was required to remedy the contravention by submitting AAAs and making payment of ALF for the year ended 30th June 2021 including late payment additional fee within seven days of the issuance of the SCN and also to explain in writing within 30 days of the issuance of the SCN as to why an enforcement order should not be passed under section 23 of the Act.
Before passing an enforcement order, the matter was fixed for hearing before the officers of the authority on 24th August 2022. It would not be out of context to mention here that SCN and hearing the notice were issued at the address as provided and maintained by the Appellant with the PTA.
Since the Appellant neither replied to the SCN nor attended the hearing and no new address as per regulation 46 of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (Functions and Powers) Regulations, 2006 was communicated, hence an ex-parte order dated 14th October 2022 was passed.
Relevant para(s) of the said order is reproduced below: a) The license is hereby suspended for a period of one month or till the licensee submits AAAs for the year ended 2021 along with payment of Annual License Fee for the said year including late payment additional till date to the Authority, whichever is earlier. b) In case of non-compliance of Para 7.1 (a) above, license No. Dir (L)/CVAS1065/PTA/2019 dated 24th October, 2019 of the licensee shall stand terminated upon expiration of one month after issuance of this order without any further notice. c) All LDI, Ll., TIP and Mobile licensees are directed to suspend immediately all telecommunication facilities extended to the licensee pursuant to the license till further orders." Due to failure on the part of Appellant to comply with the aforesaid order within the stipulated time, impugned letter was issued through which, intimation with regard to termination of license was conveyed.
Being aggrieved by the impugned letter, the Appellant preferred an appeal under section 7 (2) of the Act before the Authority mainly on the following grounds: c) The above subject reference letter/ impugned letter has been received to the appellant, whereby it has been directed to the appellant for submission of accounts details for the year 2021-2022, however, the referred letter was not received to the appellant timely, that's why the appellant could not submit the required data/record in time. It is pertinent to mention here that the appellant has submitted the required documents through TCS to your good office on 8.52023.
d) The required documents/accounts statements have been submitted soon after the receipt of referred notice, however, delay if any in submitting the record has been caused, the same may be condoned and the appellant assures that he will submit the record/data in future in time and no delay will be caused in future.
In order to proceed further, the appeal was fixed for hearing before the Authority on 16th June 2023. Sattar Irfan (CEO) and Amir appeared on behalf of the Appellant on the said date. Before the hearing date, the appellant submitted incomplete annual accounts for the year ended 30th June 2021. The Appellant reported nil revenue in above referred accounts.
During the hearing, the Appellant was directed to submit AAAs complete in all aspects. Subsequent to the hearing, an email dated 16th June 2023 was sent to the Appellant, wherein the Appellant was required to submit annual audited accounts and to pay the annual license fee for the year ended 30th June 2021 based on revenue and inter-operator cost for the relevant year. However, no response was received from the Appellant.
Despite multiple directions and providing a fair opportunity of hearing, the appellant has not submitted complete AAAs till to date.
The authority concluded that the appellant has failed to comply with the regulatory compliance, ie, terms and condition of license as well as directions with regard to submission of AAAs and payment of ALF, therefore, the authority could not find any cogent reason and justification to interfere with the impugned letter issued in light of order dated 24th October passed by the officers of the authority.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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