Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has successfully achieved 95 percent of its Targets and Goals for the year 2009 and set new Targets and Goals for the year 2010. The Annual Meeting was held at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad wherein progress of Division and Directorates of PTA for the year 2009 was reviewed and proposed Targets and Goals for the year 2010 were discussed and finalized. Chairman PTA. Dr. Mohammed Yaseen chaired the session while Member (Finance), Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical), Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Director Generals, Directors and Officers of the Authority attended the meeting.

Some of the important achievements of PTA during year 2009, presented during the meeting, included Financial Analysis of Telecom Sector, Finalization of DSL Agreement with PTCL, Review of Pricing Policies of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) for Improved ARPUs, Fixed and Mobile Tariff Analysis of SAARC Region, Analysis of PTCL Performance in Post Privatization Period, Financial Evaluation of New Licenses,  Establishment of Industry Working Group on GSM-VAS, Preparation of Broadband and GPRS-EDGE KPIs, Implementation of New Number Plan in AJ&K and NAs and Auction of Universal Access Numbers (UAN).

During the year 2009, Consumer Protection Regulations and Regulations against Spam, Obnoxious, Fraudulent, and Unsolicited Communications were formulated and promulgated. Establishment of Redressal of Consumers’ Grievances Mechanism, Preparation of Code of Commercial Practices for all licensees, Development of Maritime Communication Regulatory Framework, Launch of SIM Information System 668, Introduction of Mobile Agri-Application and Mobile Commerce, Formulation of ICT/Telecommunication Security Guidelines, Formulation of Broadband Stake holders Group, Establishment of E-Commerce Gateway of Pakistan, Re-delegation of PK Domain, Completion of International Traffic Monitoring System and Reconciliation of International Telephone Traffic System were some of PTA’s other significant initiatives in the last year.

In addition to above PTA also did number of studies, prepared several research papers and reports, carried out reviews, surveys and monitoring of different telecom services and systems. Mobile Subscribers’ Online Verification (789) System, Towers Environmental Hazards Survey, Comprehensive QoS Survey of Mobile Companies, Spectrum Monitoring, Grey Traffic/Illegal Call Termination, Studies on In house cabling, Socio Economic Impact of Telecom Growth, Study on Disaster Communication, Review of different Regulations, Research paper on International Trends in Legislation and Reforms in Telecommunication, Research paper on Concept of Financial Compensation for Telecom Service Providers and Consumers in line With the Best International Practices and Study on Development of Public Domain Database i.e. for SIM Information System were some of the research activities done by PTA in 2009.

On this occasion, Chairman PTA showed his satisfaction over the progress of different PTA departments and appreciated their efforts in carrying the vision and objectives of the Authority. He emphasized on the expeditious completion of incomplete tasks and directed the concerned divisional heads to supervise and ensure their compliance in this regard.

It was decided in the meeting that during the year 2010, PTA Commercial Affairs Division will carry out Consultation Paper on Charging of Calls to Toll Free Numbers from Mobile, Broadband tariffs-Benchmark Study, Financial analysis of Mobile Operators and some other studies.

The Enforcement Division, along with other tasks, will conduct QoS surveys of different telecom services in the country.

The Finance Division of PTA will work on the Comparative Study of MVNO with different Countries, Review of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Telecom Sector of Pakistan and some other studies. PTA Strategy and Development (S&D) Division will conduct different studies including study on Status of 4G and 3G deployments globally and way forward for Pakistan.

The Licensing Division will carry out studies on Regulatory Changes in WLL Regime in line With Technological Advancements, 3G Licensing, and Low Power GSM Trends etc. The Law & Regulations Division will work on the preparation of Research Papers on different topics including Unification of License: Provision of Coveraged Services i.e. voice, video and data under one Umbrella and their Regulatory Issues etc.

The ICT Directorate will conduct consultancy on recommending various strategies for improving Telecom market in Pakistan and will be responsible for carrying out some other important tasks.The Economic Affairs Directorate of PTA will arrange studies on Telecom regulatory Reforms, Impact on Economics Growth in Pakistan and Economic Analysis of Privatization of PTCL etc. The Coordination, Human Resource (HR), Public Relations (PR), Administration and Internal Audit Directorates and Vigilance Cell will also perform different tasks during the year 2010.

 

Khurram A.Mehran

Director (PR)