PTA Denies Reports Of Regulating Tariffs Of Mobile Operators

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has clarified recent reports that claimed the regulator was not allowing mobile operators to increase their tariffs. According to PTA, it has no control over the tariff of mobile operators in Pakistan, except Jazz as it falls under the category of dominant mobile operator in line with Significant Market Player (SMP) and Jazz-Warid Merger.

PTA has issued a press release in this regarding and explained the situation. “With reference to news item which appeared in a section of media that the regulator is not allowing increase in tariffs of mobile operators, it is clarified that this assertion is incorrect and misleading.” said the regulator.

The regulator said that it only regulates tariff for the dominant mobile operator in Pakistan i.e. PMCL (Jazz) in line with Significant Market Player (SMP) determination and Jazz-Warid Merger condition with the aim to prevent any anti-competitive practices by the market leader.

PTA said that rest of the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are free to set their tariffs as per their commercial considerations, and the PTA does not intervene in their tariff changes. It added that during the month of June 2022, PTA has approved 25 tariff proposals submitted by Jazz, with a average increase of 14% in the price, keeping in view the increasing cost of operations for the company.

Meanwhile, the PTA said that other operators have also increase their tariffs, such as Ufone, which has hiked tariffs for 42 packages by an average 16.4% in June 2022. PTA added that telecom customers in Pakistan have been enjoying one of the most affordable telecom services in the world due to competitive telecom market and progressive policies and regulations.

“The Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Inclusive Internet Index 2022 shows that Pakistan has improved 15 points in the affordability ranking, where it was at 78th position in 2021 and improved to 63rd in 2022, performing better than Bangladesh (64th).” PTA added.

Moreover, due to competition, Pakistan’s cellular mobile industry is a low ARPU market with average ARPU per month of Rs. 215 in FY2021, which has slightly increased to Rs. 220 in FY2022 (Jul 21 to Mar 2022).

Read more: Jazz Providing Free On-Net & PTCL Calls in Flood Affected Areas of Balochistan.

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