01 June 2004	Tuesday	12 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 31: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received 93 applications for the grant of Local Loop (LL) and Long Distance International (LDI) licences from prospective investors so far.

Out of these applications, 69 are meant for LL licences while 24 are for the award of LDI licences. In view of the difference of time between the US and Pakistan as well as bank holiday in the US, bankers cannot transfer the money in value by due date of May 31.

Therefore, the last date for submission of applications for LL and LDI along with related fee has been extended to June 2. The licences are being issued as part of the government's telecom deregulation policy announced in July last year to put an end to PTCL's monopoly on basic telephony.

A committee has been constituted by the authority for scrutiny and short listing of applications to evaluate technical and financial viability of the applicants in the light of criteria prescribed by the PTA and provided to the parties in the shape of Information Memorandum.

The evaluation of licences for LL and LDI applicants requiring frequency shall be finalized by the end of June 2004, while those requiring spectrum allocation shall be decided through auction expected to be held in July.

In the case of LDI licences requiring spectrum allocation as backbone network, no auction will be held as spectrum is available with the PTA in sufficient quantity.

The launching of new companies which are required to become operational within 18 months of the issuance of licences are expected to bring investment of $1 billion in the next two to three years and the present teledensity of 2.8 per cent of fixed line will be doubled over the same period.

Grant of licences will help generate a genuine competition in the telecom market resulting in high quality service to the consumers at reasonable rates besides creating employment opportunities leading to welfare of the common man and overall growth of the national economy.