Pakistan Telecommunication has issued a Long Distance International (LDI) license to local company HG Telecommunications (Pvt.) Ltd.
According to the PTA, an LDI license has been issued to HG Telecom after the fulfillment of all the legal requirements.
The company has submitted a $0.5 million license fee and $10 million bank guarantees for the laying of a 1,500 km optical fiber cable.
Sources told ProPakistani that PTA has issued an LDI license to Zeta Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd, earlier this year.
After the license of these two companies, the number of LDI operators in the country has increased to 19. The total number of operational LDI companies in the country is 17 including PTCL and NTC whereas these two new companies will soon start operations in Pakistan.
The sources said that no clearance was required for the registration as both companies are local and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Clearance from the Ministry of Interior is mandatory for international firms or companies with foreign directors.
According to PTA officials, the new License has enhanced Roll Out obligations concerning Optical Fiber Networks and Quality of Service Standards. This will pave the way for the absorption of futuristic technologies, not only in the main cities but in major towns and small cities.
The Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Bodies (CCRB) had imposed a watch hold on the issuance of Mobile, Local Loop (LL), and LDI licenses for seven years in March 2006. The watch hold expired on 22 March 2013, and resultantly, an LDI license was issued to China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak). After issuing a license to CMPak, the issuance of the LDI license was suspended
The PTA opened LDI licenses last year after a gap of eight years, and the first LDI license in eight years was issued to Cyber Internet Service Private Limited on 14 June 2022.
