KARACHI, Dec 5: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) has filed a petition with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for an increase in line rent and local call charges, Dawn learnt here on Wednesday.

A well-placed source in the PTA told Dawn from Islamabad that a public hearing would be held at the telecom regulator’s headquarters on Dec 10 to discuss the company’s request for an upward revision in the tariff structure.

He added that the PTCL had asked for an increase of six to ten per cent in local call charges and eight to 12 per cent in line rent.

At present, the local call charges are Rs2.01 for five minutes and the line rent is Rs245 per month.

In July 2000, the PTCL had increased the local call charges by around eight per cent, from Rs1.86 for five minutes to Rs2.01 for five minutes. It had also raised the line rent from Rs204 to Rs245 — an increase of 20 per cent.

The source said the PTCL had also applied for a decrease in nationwide-dialling charges, international call charges and installation charges.

“The PTCL wants to reduce installation charges by 40 per cent to 50 per cent, nationwide-dialling charges by 20 per cent and international call charges by 20 per cent,” the source said.

The PTCL accounts general manager, Nehmatullah, said that last year the telecommunication company had earned the highest-ever revenue of Rs62billion. “The after-tax profit had come to Rs18.155 billion. This year, the revenue target set by the PTCL is Rs67 billion,” he added.

The PTCL officials, however, maintain that the company will not be able to meet this revenue target without a considerable increase in tariff. They add that raising the tariff is the easiest option.

“In the southern telecommunication region alone, the PTCL loses more than Rs200 million to defaulters every year. If the PTCL launches a revenue recovery drive in the earnest, it will not have to increase the tariff almost every year,” they point out.

Insiders told Dawn that last year the PTCL had earned Rs42.926 billion as domestic revenue (local call charges, foreign outgoing calls, installation charges and line rent). “The international revenue (calls coming from abroad) was Rs18.958 billion which was less than what it was in the previous year.

Perhaps the PTCL is trying to make up for the loss in the international revenue by a considerable increase in the domestic revenue,” they explained.

They added that it would, in all probability, be the last petition of the PTCL for the tariff increase, because next year the monopoly of the telecommunication company will come to an end under the rules of the World Trade Organization.

They pointed out that recently the minister for privatization, Altaf M. Saleem, had disclosed that apart from the five companies that had filed expressions of interest, two more companies had shown interest in the PTCL.

The sources said the government intended to sell 26 per cent stake in the PTCL. Although the government would retain a majority stake, the strategic investor would have management control. Goldman Sachs International was the lead adviser to the privatization body on the PTCL, while JP Morgan was assisting.