Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has confirmed that wholesale IP bandwidth providers are obstructing IP bandwidth reselling by other operators in Pakistan by imposing certain conditions.
In Pakistan, the wholesale IP bandwidth market is dominated by four(04) major overseas cable operators: PTCL, Transworld Associates (TWA), Cybernet, and SCO. These companies supply bandwidth to downstream providers, such as fixed-line and cellular mobile operators, who then sell it to home and corporate customers.
Official documents available with ProPakistani revealed that there is no provision in the legal framework and respective license(s) of the operators that restrict downstream providers from reselling IP bandwidth to their retail customers.
However, wholesale providers have been imposing conditions on reselling, such as recovering default amounts (if any), setting price floors, and other subjective measures aimed at protecting business interests. These practices are seen as contrary to the principles of fair competition in the telecom sector and should not be allowed.
In a determination dated July 23, 2021, the PTA identified PTCL and TWA as Significant Market Power (SMP) operators in the wholesale IP bandwidth market of Pakistan. Recently, the PTA received complaints from downstream providers alleging that wholesale providers are restricting reselling by imposing commercial conditions.
To address these concerns, the PTA conducted individual meetings with the involved operators, discussing the issues in detail and gathering feedback.
The analysis of the feedback revealed instances where wholesale providers are indeed obstructing reselling by imposing conditions. The PTA noted that such restrictions are not found in international practices, where bandwidth trade is allowed without hindrance.
The PTA believes that agreements for bulk sales are creating trade restraints that should not be encouraged. Consequently, the PTA has sought comments from telecom operators on allowing the reselling of IP bandwidth by long-distance and International (LDI) operators in Pakistan without any obstructions or imposed conditions.
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3rd reason in as many weeks abt the cause of slow internet. First it was VPNs, then it’s the SMW cable, and now IP reselling.
Either they are idiots or they think we are idiots
Or, we are idiots?
of course, they are idiots
another idiotic explanation from pta, causes of internet speed hindrance have changed several times. such people are hired from military which boasts a lot.
Iam amazed with such new explanations each time just to hide the fact that some alien firewall is causing this issue from the day its test run was started during/after muharram(2024) and further test runs are also done to block certain aspects of internet while keep running others.
Freelancing and other online businesses from Pakistan is in deep waters due to this and some have left, while others are leaving abroad to get better access/business working. They are still not learning the dire effects they are causing to public and country economics.
Seems like they will go next on online backing transactions and ATM working through GSM/internet.
So if PTCL is one of the major players and it is part of implementing this slowdown on the other small resellers, why is it slowing down its own customers’ internet? I’m on PTCL broadband, so why is my speed slowed down too? If anything, PTCL should provide its customers with the best possible connection and speeds for good marketing and optics. What PTCL is allegedly doing now, is akin to shooting itself in the foot for no reason.