Telenor Pakistan has signed its GSM license renewal template issued by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) “under protest and without prejudice” just moments ago, we have confirmed.
However, despite the signing of the license after paying the fee in full, the company says it reserves the right to continue seeking a legal resolution to its dispute with PTA on the case.
For those who don’t know, PTA had issued a 15-year license for network operations to Telenor Pakistan in 2004 which was due for renewal on May 25th, 2019, a failure of which could impact its nationwide operations.
However, due to a row on terms and particularly the increased license fee, Telenor Pakistan decided to approach the court of law in May 2019 to get a clarification on the license renewal terms.
In September 2021, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the petition that was filed by both Telenor and Jazz against Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Both companies then decided to challenge the IHC verdict in Supreme Court.
According to Telenor, the dispute on the onerous terms and conditions of the license template is sub-judice before the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Telenor Pakistan will continue the legal recourse to resolve disagreements.
“However, subject to outcome of aforesaid legal proceeding, in order to ensure greater certainty to business operations, Telenor Pakistan has taken a step forward towards its future ambition by singing the license template,” the company says.
Commenting on the development, CEO Telenor Pakistan, Irfan Wahab Khan stated, “Telecom and digital services have become fundamental for modern, sustainable societies to prosper. At Telenor Pakistan, we are continuously maximizing our efforts towards enabling our customers and accelerating the pace of digitalization in the country.”
“The digital ecosystem in Pakistan has immense potential to grow however, there is a need for collective efforts to exploit the potential and bring greater value to consumers. We look forward to the resolution of industry issues and the support from PTA towards ensuring a more conducive regulatory environment in the country,” Irfan added.
It’s pertinent to note that three out of the four Pakistani telecom operators didn’t participate in the latest spectrum auction through which PTA was eyeing to bring $1 billion. Instead, the regulator could only make $279 million out of it, which operators think is the reason behind PTA’s “pressurizing” of telcos into signing the license template.
On the other hand, Telenor recently acquired 3G and 4G license for AJK&GB, indicating that there is intent among the operators to invest in the spectrum, but only when the terms are fair and competitive.
In October 2021, Jazz also signed a license renewal agreement “under protest” with PTA while pursuing the case against it in the Supreme Court over the same issue. Both operators consider the PTA terms to be coercive and heavy-handed, and hope for the govt to intervene in order to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, both operators have said they will continue to pursue their petition against IHC decision in the Supreme Court.
