January 2, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 28, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: The government intends to sell at least two new licences for 1,800 MHz cellular phones through an open bidding.

An updated document on the deregulation policy of telecommunications, which the ministries of IT and telecommunications has forwarded to take a feed back from the stakeholders, states that the bidding for the licences will be completed before Dec 31, followed by a similar process for the award of 3G licenses.

The policy proposes that there will be two types of licences for fixed-line operators— local loop (LL) fixed line telecommunications and long-distance and international (LDI) fixed line telecommunications.

It also proposes three new nation-wide licences for the LDI telecommunications and up to three new LL telecommunications licences per Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Limited (PTCL) region.

There will be a minimum floor price in the bidding of the LDI licences specified by the government.

The existing operators of telecommunication services in the country will be permitted to retain their current licences or operation and maintenance (O&M) agreements with the PTCL. They may compete for the new local loop or long-distance licence on these basis.

The policy says the LDI licences will have the obligation to start roll out by building at least one point of interconnection on each of the 13 PTCL regions within one year of award of licences and in all the 36 PTCL transit exchanges within three years.

The operators will be permitted to lease infrastructure from the PTCL or any other infrastructure owner on mutually agreed commercial terms, non-discriminatory to other licences seeking the same facility.

The operators will also have to provide free-of-cost directory services to its customers, access to emergency services, operator assistance and any other similar support services as required by the PTA.

The LL operators will not be permitted to carry voice calls between the PTCL regions (other than metro regions) or long distance/international traffic. They may carry voice calls between municipalities, but only within a single region.

Both type of licensees will be required to provide regular reports to the PTA on quality and network implementation.