PTA Notifies Three Companies to Clear Remaining Dues

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has notified three companies, that are using several voice class value added services (CVAS) and audiotex service, to pay their remaining dues under the licence to deter suspension of service and termination of licences.

Liberty Papers Limited and Trade Serve International was issued a determination order by the telecom authority to pay their six years pending dues against the numbers received for audiotex service and CVAS, which makes a total of Rs 0.56 million and Rs 0.45 million respectively. Moreover, one operator, Haj Enterprises, was ordered to clear its dues of Rs 0.186 million for using CVAS for the last three years.

PTA Notifies Three Companies to Clear Remaining Dues

The operators of innumerable services have not cleared the charges of numbers and services allotted to them by the authority for many years, which triggered the authority to issue show-cause notices in the previous years, demanding clarification of non-payment.

Under the law, being a licensees of PTA, the licensees are obligated to comply with the provisions of Pakistan Telecommunication Rules, 2000 (the “Rules”), Class Licensing and Registration Regulations, 2007, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (Functions & Powers) Regulations, 2006, Number Allocation and Administration Regulations, 2011 (the Numbering Regulations) and the terms and conditions of the licence.

The authority also ordered the executives of these companies to appear in the hearing, which was not attended by the companies officials subsequently.

As a result, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has levied a fine of Rs 0.21 million on Liberty Papers; Rs 36,000 on Haj Enterprises and Rs 0.266 million on Trade Serve International, asking them to pay the penalty along with the principal amount of services or numbers used by operators.

The telecom regulator informed that regardless of receiving authority determination orders, the numbers and licences of these operators would be dismissed if levies are not paid within the next 15 days.