The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has corrected reports that mobile operators are boosting internet and phone package rates with PTA approval, claiming that such “assertions are unsubstantiated and factually false.”
The PTA stated in a statement that it regulates just the main player (SMP), Jazz, in Pakistan’s retail mobile telephony industry. Telenor, Ufone, and Zong, non-SMP carriers, are free to set/revise their prices based on their cost of doing business and commercial reasons.
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It further explained that, despite assertions to the contrary, Telenor and Ufone have increased the minimum amount of superload/easy load from Rs. 50 to Rs. 60, and Jazz and Zong from Rs. 50 to Rs. 70. According to the statement, this adjustment has no effect on the cost of calls or data services/packages.
As a result, the image conveyed here of a massive increase in call/data prices is misleading, according to PTA.
PTA also denied reports that data package costs would rise from “Rs. 10 to Rs. 25.” The actual price of some data packages has only increased by Rs. 5-10, according to the report. For example, Ufone’s “weekly light bucket” has only gone from Rs. 105 to Rs. 110.
According to the statement, the PTA is watchful regarding the rates/tariffs charged by mobile operators and guarantees that consumers’ interests are protected.