PTA to Charge Fee for Registering Mobile Devices and Telecom Equipment

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is all set to impose application/processing administrative fees for processing and issuance of Certificate of Compliance (CoC) and review the existing Type Approval fee structure to cater to the regulatory overheads.

Currently, there is no application/processing administrative fee being charged by the PTA to applicants for processing and issuance of CoC.

The Authority stated that there is a dire need to impose such administrative/regulatory/applications processing fees in order to cater for the regulatory overheads such as the expenses associated with the allocation of human resources, handling paperwork, dispatching CoCs to the applicants, correspondence with multiple entities, payment of the GSMA TAC database subscription fee(s) and above all the administrative cost associated with the operation and maintenance of DIRBS platform.

Mobile Device Manufacturers (MDMs), via PMPMA’s letters (dated April 22, 2024), requested PTA to convene a meeting for deliberation on the proposed administrative fee/charges. Subsequently, the PTA held a consultation session with MDMs on May 14, 2024. Following this session, a few updates are made in section 3 of the consultation paper.

The major cases being processed by the Type Approval Directorate for processing and issuance of CoC are;

1. Commercial CoC i.e., CoC for already Type Approved SIM/IMEI-based devices imported in CBU form by commercial importers
2. CoC for mobile phones in SKD/CKD form imported by Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization holders for manufacturing in Pakistan.
3. CoC for finished mobile phones manufactured by Mobile Device Manufacturers.
4. CoC for registration of mobile phones in the individual category.
5. CoC for the non-SIM-based terminal/ telecom equipment.

CoC application processing administrative fee will be applicable for commercial Completely Built Units (CBUs), Non-SIM based Terminal/ Telecom equipment, and Commercial CoC for MDM SKD/ CKD parts applications submitted to PTA.  For commercial CBU a fixed fee would be Rs. 5,000 and for commercial non-SIM Terminal/Telecom equipment Rs. 2,500.

For MDM (parts import), for every 1,000 devices, an application fee will be charged @ Rs. 70,000/-. However, if the number of devices exceeds the count of 1,000 devices then an additional fee of Rs. 70,000/- shall be charged for each subsequent lot of 1,000 devices.

The fee for MDM is based on the number of applications i.e. Rs. 70,000 per application for 1,000 units, however, if the units per application are increased from 1,000 to 2,000 then the application fee will be doubled and the same would go on for an additional 1000 slab. An earlier fixed fee of Rs. 2,500 for MDM (parts import) was proposed which is now been removed.

The Authority Charges an Application Processing Fee (Non-Refundable) and a Type Approval certificate fee separately. The revised fee structure is given below.

Current processing fee is $100 which would be revised to $200, Type Approval certificate fee is currently $100 which would be revised to $200, while Short Range Devices (SRD) & Terrestrial Internet of Things (IoT) Services, etc. (Processing fee+ Certificate Fee) is $50+$50 which would be revised to $100+$100.

Under regulations 23(h) and 23(l) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (Functions & Powers) Regulations, 2006 the authority may levy and charge fee for Type Approval and any other fee for any authorization granted under the Act and for the purpose of the Act such as administration of license, approval for extension of the service/system, etc. as may be specified by the Authority.

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