Internet Service Providers will have the right to acquire lease IP bandwidth from any operator (other than PTCL) and PTCL will offer the proposed discounts on IP bandwidth to ISPs, starting from April 1st, 2009, this was concluded in a meeting arranged by PTCL, ISPAK and chaired by Chairman PTA, told us a source from the authority.
Earlier, ISPak had approached PTA for resolution for various issues including the allowance of using third party IP bandwidth, inter-exchange bandwidth, lying of fiber by DSL operators in PTCL co-location sites and retail tariffs offered by PTCL for DSL operators.
ISPak was of the view that PTCL is charging higher rates for IP bandwidth and they are also not allowed to get IP bandwidth from any operator other than PTCL, which is anti-competitive practice. After arguments, PTCL agreed to allow acquisition of IP bandwidth from third party operators to ISPs.
Furthermore, it was concluded that PTCL will provide inter-exchange lease media to ISPs with-in 1 month after request of ISPs where media is already available and if not, then PTCL will make temporary arrangements at its own cost to provide lease media within 3 months. PTCL reportedly promised to lock the rates at the Dec 2008 level for the year 2009.
Moreover, ISPak members argued that PTCL’s broadband tariffs have made their business models unfeasible. They requested the authority that PTCL’s packages, as Significant Market Player should be reviewed prior to launch.
