KARACHI, July 27: The Pakistan Telecommunication Company has raised the delivery charges of the Pakistan Post Office by 60 per cent.

High-ranking PTCL officials privately say that the move defies logic because the PPO, which is authorised to distribute at least 50 per cent of more than 800,000 bills issued by the PTCL every month, is largely responsible for non-delivery of considerable numbers of telephone bills.

Sources told Dawn on Saturday that previously the PTCL paid the PPO Rs2.5 for every telephone bill. After the upward revision of delivery charges, they added, the PTCL would pay the PPO Rs4 apiece.

They said that in addition to the PPO, the PTCL engaged four other courier companies to distribute phone bills in the city. The courier services were Multi Services, Super Star, Speed Bird, Industrial Techno Services.

“Previously, when the PTCL was paying the PPO Rs2.5 for every telephone bill, the courier services used to get Rs1.35 apiece. While the PTCL has raised the delivery charges of the PPO to Rs4 per phone bill, it has kept the delivery charges of the courier services unchanged.”

Insiders tell Dawn that because of poor performance of the PPO, it is not allowed to distribute valued bills — bills worth more than a certain amount fixed by the PTCL every six months. Only courier companies are allowed to deliver valued bills — referred to as preferred bills in technical parlance — to subscribers and get receipts. For each valued bill, a courier company receives Rs6.5 from the PTCL.

In case of non-delivery of a valued bill, the PTCL imposes a fine of Rs21 per bill on the courier company concerned. On the other hand, in case of non-delivery of a normal bill, the PTCL merely withholds delivery charges.

PTCL officials insist that for two reasons it is wise to entrust both the PPO and the courier companies with the task of delivering bills to subscribers. First, such an arrangement creates an atmosphere of competition, spurring one party to outdo the other. Second, the courier companies, by their own admission, are not in a position to deliver bills in all the areas of the city, particularly those localities where houses are not marked in a methodical manner.

Analysts point out that the PTCL can ensure delivery of bills by increasing the number of valued bills. At present, only 20 per cent of the bills issued by the PTCL can be treated as valued bills.

Dawn learnt has it on good authority that the PTCL spends only Rs2 million on delivery of bills. This figure is very small in comparison with the revenue earned by the PTCL.

The sources say that not all areas of the city generate equal amount of revenue for the PTCL. They add that 20 per cent of the areas generates 80 per cent of the revenue earned by the PTCL. In Karachi, for instance, PECHS generates the greatest amount of revenue.

Analysts maintain that by increasing the number of valued bills in those areas which generate fairly large amount of revenue, the PTCL can ensure delivery of phone bills.

Well-placed PTCL officials told Dawn that the phone utility was working on two projects to remove the problems of delivery of bills. “First, the PTCL will soon initiate prepaid billing. Second, it will start online billing as well whereby all telephone exchanges will be connected to the billing centre. This will enable the subscribers to get their phone bills corrected without having to do a lot of running around.” They added that some branches of the Citibank were already practising online billing.