In response to Zong’s legal notice of $40 Million to PTA, Dr. Ismail Shah, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, has said that matter will be resolved amicably very soon. He was responding to a question during a Senate’s standing committee briefing on information technology and telecommunication.
Dr. Ismail explained the committee that three different options are being discussed with Zong and issue will be resolved through dialogue.
Chairman PTA agreed that Zong’s spectrum is being used by DECT 6.0 phones that create noise and distortion in the spectrum, however, according to Chairman, Zong had itself opted for this block of spectrum at the time of spectrum allotment.
Also Read: Zong Sends USD 40 Million Legal Notice to PTA, Demands a Refund for Defective Spectrum
Dr. Ismail further told the committee that cordless phones that are imported from US and Europe are the root cause of the issue, for which authority has already launched a campaign to curb the usage of such illegal cordless phones.
“The people have been warned against using illegal devices,” he said.
Dr. Shah told the committee that such issues arise in the process of spectrum allocation and it has happened in many countries and are resolved subsequently. However, he made it clear that spectrum was made available by the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and awarded to the company at its own choice.
It merits mentioning here that Zong maintains that the spectrum, which it calls is defective, is different from the one that it was offered for free trials before the auction.
Zong says that it was PTA/FAB’s responsibility to allot a spectrum that was free of any out-side interference.