After recent announcement by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority regarding the issuance of new local loop licenses, China Mobile Pakistan or Zong was quick enough to secure 14 local loop licenses for all telecom regions of the country.
With Zong joining the league, there are now 18 operators with Local Loop licenses for various telecom regions of Pakistan.
It maybe recalled that an LL Licence authorizes the license holder to construct local network facilities in licensed Region and to provide basic public telephone access and other telecommunication services in that Region.
Pakistan is divided into 14 telecom regions and a LL license for each region is issued separately at a fixed cost of US 10,000 dollars.
Pakistan Telecommunication has said that it is accepting any new applications for LL licenses.
Operators with LL licenses can offer end-to-end telephony and other telecom services (such as broadband) with-in a telecom region through any possible wired-communication medium (fibre/ copper).
While it should be noted that no other cellular company has Local Loop licenses, it appears that Zong has plans to play with wired services – such as high-speed wired broadband, Cable TV etc. — in Pakistan.
It won’t be out of place to mention here that Zong was recently granted an LDI license – which was later challenged in the court – and company is also bidding for 3G / 4G licenses in an on-going auction.
For our readers’ reference, below are the telecom regions of Pakistan:
- Central Telecom Region (CTR).
- Faisalabad Telecom Region (FTR).
- Gujranwala Telecom Region (GTR)
- Hazara Telecom Region (HTR)
- Islamabad Telecom Region (ITR)
- Karachi Telecom Region (KTR)
- Lahore Telecom Region (LTR)
- Multan Telecom Region (MTR)
- Northern Telecom Region – 1 (NTR-1)
- Northern Telecom Region –2 (NTR-2)
- Rawalpindi Telecom Region (RTR)
- Southern Telecom Region – 1 (STR-1)
- Southern Telecom Region – 5 (STR-5)
- Western Telecom Region (WTR)
You can also download the map of Telecom Regions of Pakistan here.
I have a hunch that after this 3g auction zong gona explode and takeover the market, they are playing waiting game very nicely with pockets loded
Zong getting Local Loop license to compete in cable tv market and PRI market. Stand back everyone especally PTCL and all cable operators, China Mobile is going to destroy everyone. Better learn Chinese now. Better late than never!
no small news. definitely it wud change the entire spectrum of telecom sector over a few years. finally someone to challenge PTCL.
wow …..! seem’s like zong playing his own game …creating platform for safe play……!i got strong feeling zong surly gona shock other telecom operators
sorry for being off the topic.. but I want to ask that why wateen has rolled back its operations from multan…why they are leaving market quietly
they rolled over their operations in Multan because they are being acquired…
this is fosho!!
btw, Salaam to Raheel & Irshad in Wateen’s Multan Region!
Chinese have some big plans for Pakistan.Don’t ignore fiber connectivity project between China and Pakistan. Gawadar Port, Motorways and power generation.
My city is included in NTR-I (NWFP), Will I able to use 3G?
Infrastructure for local loop is one of the most labor/recourse intensive, so I very much doubt that Zong will venture anywhere other then the urban areas.
Game is only urban and the Mafias rule the pen. Good luck dealing with mafia
Good move, now someone with great and efficient resources to poke #PTCL monopoly.
Admin you need to update yourself…you are using the old names of telecom regions of PTCL.
mardan kpk may 3G a ay ga?
Zaroor Zaroor inshallah. KPK May peshawar aur Mardan may bilkul ayega. Inshallah
That encouraging news, lets hope they cover all the areas which are even not covered by nayatel yet, like mine in rwp.
Plus lets hope more organizations step up for Local Loop licenses and put the monopoly of PTCL to the rest for forever
3G ki alag sim ho gi…?
Yes, The current SIM will need to be cooked in a pressure cooker for about an hour in order to be able to use it for 3G service!
and Yes I’m not Jocking!!!
In most cases the same SIM will be able to connect the 3G.
Great! That’s why I like Zong from the very begining! Thier marketting and planning tactics have been superb as always
P.S: I’m not a Chiness BTW!!!
I still belive Pakistan has more huge potential for Broad Band users as compare to the wireless broad band services i.e. 3G…4G etc.
Excellent Move by PTA.I salute PTA for this bold step instead of tremendous pressure they took right decision to promoting this auction.Some non state actors are using lame excuses to postpone and delay this auction. 3g and 4g have numerous benefits.There is no true news regarding bid.there is propaganda against 3g and 4 g to lead this towards failure.