The provision of unlawful internet services by unlicensed third parties, which is hurting the business of licensees, has been seriously noted by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
According to official records made accessible to ProPakistani, these unlicensed parties attempt to construct a variety of agreements with licensees to conceal their illicit activities. PTA has outlined standards for FLL and CVAS licensees for offering internet services through agreements in an effort to eradicate this pervasive mushroom growth of unlawful internet service providers.
All FLL and CVAS licensees must update their current contracts and sign new ones in accordance with the following requirements:
- The contracted party has to use the Company Name of the contracting party (licensee) at the point of sales and for promotions etc.
- An invoice shall be generated by the licensee.
- All users are to be shown on the service load of the licensee and no user will be removed from the licensee record merely on the basis that the said user is being served through a contracted party.
- The contracted party shall not deploy its own infrastructure or use the infrastructure of the cable TV operator.
- Licensees are to notify PTA of all contracts as follows:
- Contracts within a region (Regional office PTA)
- Contracts covering multiple regions (Enforcement Division PTA CHQ)
All licensed operators are required to annually disclose to PTA the revenue they received from each contracted party.
All FLL and CVAS licensees will have a three-month grace period to fix any contract inconsistencies, as mentioned above. After the allotted time has passed, PTA will launch a national poll, and any violations of the aforementioned rules will result in enforcement action.
The grace period won’t prevent PTA from taking action under section 31 of the Act, either.
