January 23, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 19, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 22: A transparent deregulation policy on telecommunication will be implemented in three months, the minister for state on information technology, Mohammad Raza Hayat Hiraj, said.

He was speaking at a seminar on “Telecommunication Deregulation and Technology Perspective for Pakistan 2003,” organized here at a local hotel by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Nortel Networks.

“The government is committed to announce an investor- friendly policy in which the interests of all stakeholders including the investors and the end users, will be ensured,” Mr Hiraj said. He said his ministry was very sensitive about the policy and he, along with his senior minister, had held a number of meetings to accommodate all concerns.

The minister said Pakistan had a large telecommunication infrastructure in which billions of dollars could be invested and the government was expecting a minimum of $15 billion since the teledensity in Pakistan was at 2.6 per cent when the minimum requirement in Asia was 17 per cent.

Through the deregulation policy, Pakistan intends to offer atleast two new cellular licenses for sale through a transparent, open and competitive bidding process in 1,800 MHz frequency bands.

The ministry of IT and telecommunication has already circulated an updated version of consultative paper on deregulation policy to ascertain the feedback from the stakeholders, he added.

The policy has proposed to have two types of licenses for fixed line operators, including local loop (LL) fixed line telecommunications and long-distance and international (LDI) fixed line telecommunications. Similarly, three new nation-wide licenses for Long Distance and International fixed line telecommunications and upto three new local loop fixed line telecommunications licenses per PTCL region has also been proposed through the policy.

Earlier, Maj-Gen Shahzada Alam Malik (retired), the chairman of the PTA, said the authority was fully prepared to cope with the challenges that might crop in after deregulating the telecom industry and was also actively engaged in tackling technical and financial aspects in the new scenario.

He also dispelled the impression that the entry of new telecom operators would adversely affect the PTCL revenues. He cited the example of UK where 80 per cent of the business was being handled by the British Telecom while 14 per cent was being managed by other operators.

The chairman also asked the financial experts of the PTCL to analyze the emerging situation and financial impact of deregulation on PTCL business.

The chairman said preparatory work to implement the telecom policy had been completed and the authority had geared up its resources to grapple with the issues likely to be confronted in the new environment.

Maj-Gen Shahzada Alam Malik (retired) said the PTA had conducted extensive studies of different models prevailing in different countries for formulating a comprehensive strategy to execute the policy in its true spirit keeping in view the requirements and demands of the country.

The PTA had focussed its special attention to devise a fair and transparent procedure for the grant of licenses to the new entrants and resolve key issues like inter connection and numbering plan. The chairman said the opening of telecom sector to the new players would promote investment opportunities in the country and improve efficiency and performance of the telecom sector in a competitive atmosphere. He said the PTA would endeavour to provide a friendly and level playing field to the prospective investors for the expansion of telecom sector.

Later, Eris Erkel of the Nortel Networks in his presentation on Telecommunication Market Liberalization in Asia said in the typical competitive telecommunication market, the role of a regulatory body was key to success as the regulation always created commercial sensible environment by providing a level playing field to all players.

He said Pakistan had a very strong telecommunication background, still the telecommunication penetration was at 2.6 per cent.

He emphasized that it was essential to have an independent regulator to ensure fair treatment and investor confidence.