National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication stated that Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) be auctioned again in open market, if the current owner (Etisalat) fails to pay the remaining payable amount of $800 million on account of privatization in a given time frame.
Committee didn’t a say word on time-frame but said that there’s no other way of recovering the pending amount.
Also Read:Â Pakistan Gives Up Hopes of Recovering $800 Million from PTCL
The committee met under the Chairmanship of Capt. (Retd) Muhammad Safdar which expressed annoyance over delay in the release of about $800 million by the Etisalat on account of PTCL’s privatization.
Etisalat is holding $800 Million for over 10 years now.
The Committee directed the IT Ministry for giving time frame to the current owner of the PTCL to pay the pending amount to Government of Pakistan.
The parliamentary panel stated that if the current owner fails, PTCL be auctioned again in open market.
The committee also discussed the calling attention notice moved by Omer Ayub Khan, ex-MNA, regarding the issues of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP), Haripur.
Anusha Rehman, State Minister for Information Technology, briefed the committee about the history of TIP and related challenges and issues.
The Committee discussed the issue in detail and directed the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication to take necessary steps pertaining to TIP till 30th August, 2016 i.e. to disconnect all utility connections of illegal occupants of the houses of Colony Board in Haripur, who were not paying their utility bills. Further, it has been directed that stern action be taken to vacate the houses of Colony Board from illegal occupants.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication is yet to resolve the issue of outstanding amount of Rs 274 million of TIP towards Technological Service Corporation (TSC) & National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) on account of their contribution share towards TIP schools and hospitals. TIP utilities were reportedly utilized by others while the bills were being paid by TIP.
The Ministry was being directed earlier for taking concrete steps to bound PTCL, TIP and NRTC to bear all financial expenses being incurred on the schools, colleges and hospitals which have been established on the land allocated to these entities respectively, however the issue is yet to be resolved.
At the same time, on other hand, the Senate Standing committee on IT also met with Shahi Syed in the chair.
Chairman NTC Waqar Rasheed Khan said that NTC is a corporation and have its rules and regulations. The Organization is giving Rs 359 million profits and taking no funds, grants budget from the government.
The committee appreciated the efforts of NTC for reviving itself back to profits. The committee raised questions on the collection and utilization of Universal Service Fund and directed for a briefing on the issue in next meeting.
The committee also expressed anger over the absence of senior officials of the IT ministry from the meeting and directed them to ensure their presence in next meeting.
The committee underlined the need for greater national unity and unison to eliminate menace of terrorism. The committee strongly condemned the Quetta blast which claimed lives of dozens of innocent people. The chairman asked the quarters concerned to take stern action against the elements, having soft corner for people carrying out subversive activities.
Rehman Malik suggested strict punishment for those using stolen and snatched mobile phones and said he would propose legislation in the Senate, accordingly.
Shibli Faraz said the political parties would have to shun the tendencies of expediency and show courage to wipe out the menace of terrorism.
PTCL should be re-sold to China Mobile as CPEC communication infrastructure backhaul..
Bech Baach k alag kro .. atleast jo khariday ga wo (shayad) fiber laga dega, infra-structure pe dhiyaan dega, customers ki sunega or PTCL ki tarah ghatiaa offers wala lolipop nahi dega …. !!
in offers k liye paise kahan se laye ga :D
Here, Govt. also need to explain the timeline to transfer the properties which should be handed over to Etisalat many years back. However failed to do so despite the fact that many years have already been passed.
really? Independent valuations and audits have clearly declared that outstanding properties (real estate) are no more than $50 million in worth. PTCL is using the opoprtunity to claim around $250 million in rebate. What a blackmail.
Mind you, that PTCL knows it is wrong. Thats why they are not pursuing any case against GOP in international arbitration courts. But its about time that we sue them ourselves, claim recovery of $750 million with interest and seek cost of the lawsuit as well. Or, we can just offer exceptional facilities to new telecom investments except PTCL and Ufone.
When Etisalat had bid for stakes in PTCL, turned out that they offered $1.2 billion more than the second highest bidder. They were furious on advisers. Among them was, wait for it, Bilal Musharraf. When they went after him, Musharraf the corrupt babyface dictator offered practically a monopoly to PTCL to calm Etisalat.
So, they blocked 3/4 G auctions for years, still stopped nearly $1 billion of our money like sore loser/bidder, interfered with frequencies of other operators with impunity, made ICH happen to earn max from international calls landing/exiting Pakistan, and provided CDMA, Evdo, and charji services in blatant disregard of respective licenses. GOP let them play unfair, because, after all we have 76% stakes in PTCL and more money does not hurt us :) We however paid a huge economic price by letting PTCL dictate us. Comes 3/4 G and there is a visible revolution in society and small scale economy.
even without license they are providing 4g LTE on their charji devices. They dont claim it openly but device specifications clearly mentions LTE.
What about the degraded value of money over 10 years?
$800 million may have become $1 billion by now..
yea thats the most important question.
Its high time to sale PTCL and Ufone to China Mobile
Isi k liye ground banaya jaraha hai.
maybe mansha will buy
If he will buy then its good
kiyun? sirf 1000 rupees mein like MCB?
Jitne me bhi ho honi chahiye. Mansha is a great business man
Yeah sell it someone with hard cash
Etisalat apko ye paise kabhi bh nae de ga :D :D LOL izzat isi me ha k ptcl ko kisi achy group ko becho or taxes kam karo
ek or solution ye bh hai k ptcl ko wateen ko apne sath mila lena chahye for better services and improvements