CCP Urges PTA to Adopt Collaborative Approach

Competition Commission of Pakistan has issued a policy note which says that MoIT’s plans for introducing competition regulations for Telecom sector will create jurisdictional overlaps and conflicts between the mandate of the Competition Commission and PTA.

CCP’s policy note states that PTA is only mandated to regulate technical and economic matters of telecom sector and not the competition in the sector.

CCP mentioned that it is best equipped to deal with behavioral issues, to ensure free competition and to protect consumers from anti-competitive practices by dominant undertakings and cartels.

CCP also criticized Telecom Policy 2015 that had recommended PTA to come up with competition rules for the telecom sector.

CCP says that any competition rules from PTA, if formed, will create jurisdictional overlaps and conflicts between the legislative mandate of the Competition Commission and PTA.

It also raised questions about why PTA has to impose behavioral remedies for competition law violations, when they are already being enforced by the Competition Commission under the Competition Act 2010.

CCP, however, didn’t say anything on why it didn’t take any action against cellular operators that are charging almost similar charges for calling helpline, for checking balancecall setup and service charges on each re-load.

CCP recommended that PTA, as the sector regulator for telecommunication, and the Commission may adopt a collaborative approach through a mutual consultation and cooperation memorandum on matters that may be overlapping and thereby avoiding any actual or potential conflicts in the future.

CCP’s Policy note can be downloaded from here.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years



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