Caretaker Govt May Pass Ordinance to Establish Telecom Tribunal

Usama AnjumLast Updated: Oct 5, 2023

For a long time, the federal government of Pakistan has been scrutinizing establishing a Telecom tribunal as there are a large number of cases pending in the courts related to the telecom sector. Now, as per a source, the incumbent caretaker federal government is considering passing an ordinance for establishing a telecom tribunal.

Furthermore, the sources suggest that the caretaker government intends to initiate the auction process of 5G. However, without the availability of spectrum, the initiation of the 5G auction process is not possible. In such a scenario, a Telecom Tribunal would lead to the resolution of the ongoing litigation regarding the spectrum issue.

The sources further said that in order to establish a telecom tribunal, the government will have to amend the Telecommunication Reorganization Act, of 1996. Subsequently, the caretaker government sought the advice of the Law Ministry, after which an ordinance is being considered for the setting up of a Telecom Tribunal, as there is no National Assembly at the moment.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has also provided a briefing to the federal government regarding the necessity of a separate tribunal to ease the burden of pending cases in the telecom sector. During the briefing, PTA said that thousands of cases related to the telecom sector are currently pending in the courts.