8 April 2005	Friday	28 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 7: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday directed mobile phone operators to disclose all charges pertaining to calls made to other networks and applicable government taxes. In an official announcement, the PTA said it had issued this directive in response to recent advertisements appearing in the print and electronic media by some cellular phone operators wherein tariffs for calls within same networks (on-net calls) were being advertised.

“Such advertisements are misleading as they do not disclose the complete details of charges such as airtime, termination and other network access charges,” it said.

PTA’s directive stated that such advertisements created confusion among cellular subscribers as calls to other networks (off net calls), in some cases, cost them substantially higher prices than the advertised on-net airtime tariffs.

The contents and slogans used in advertisements are often misleading as the government taxes such as GST (general sales tax) and Advance Tax are not disclosed properly.

To minimize consumer complaints and to create better awareness among subscribers, the cellular operators have been directed to follow some conditions in their advertisements.

In case of differential between on-net and off-net calls, the operators were told, final tariffs (excluding government taxes) for off-net calls to other mobile networks and fixed line networks should also be conspicuously advertised for a specific call category or interconnect charges. While NWD access charges be categorized together as “other network charges” for off-net calls to other mobile networks and fixed line networks separately.

In addition, the cellular mobile operators have also been asked to clearly mention the taxes applicable on the tariffs such as 15 per cent GST and 10 per cent Advance Tax.

The cellular mobile operators are also directed to comply with these conditions and to ensure adequate disclosure of tariffs in a discernable manner latest by April 15, 2005.