Pakistan’s major telecom operators, including Ufone, Zong, and Jazz, have pushed back against suggestions that they are responsible for the SMS alert charges that banking customers are being billed for transaction notifications. The clarification comes as scrutiny around the issue intensifies following deliberations at the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, where lawmakers expressed serious concern over what they described as steep increases in charges imposed on bank account holders.
In an official statement, industry stakeholders explained that banks typically do not connect directly with telecom networks when sending SMS alerts to their customers. Instead, messages travel through licensed third-party aggregators that serve as intermediaries, handling routing, delivery optimisation, and commercial arrangements before the traffic ever reaches the telecom operators. This means that operators constitute only one component of a broader value chain and do not exercise control over the final charges that end customers see on their bank statements. Telecom companies provide bulk messaging services under commercially negotiated enterprise agreements, either directly or through these aggregators, while banks independently determine the pricing structures they pass on to their customers, including monthly SMS alert fees, which industry sources note are often considerably higher than the underlying costs within the messaging chain itself.
Operators also expressed a willingness to share disaggregated data with the Senate Committee, including transaction volumes and service rates, to demonstrate that there is no overcharging occurring on the telecom side of the arrangement. Telecom services in Pakistan remain subject to ongoing regulatory oversight by PTA, and operators reaffirmed full compliance with all applicable requirements. The companies reiterated that attributing end-customer charges solely to telecom providers does not accurately reflect how the ecosystem functions, and they emphasised the role of banks and aggregators in shaping the final cost burden on consumers. Industry stakeholders also reaffirmed their broader commitment to supporting secure digital banking services and advancing financial inclusion across the country, while pledging to continue engaging constructively with regulators and policymakers as the matter is examined further by the legislature.
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