December 23, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 01, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Friday requested the Ministry of Information Technology to hold an independent inquiry into the Cogilent Solutions controversy and fix responsibility with a view to checking the recurrence of such incidents in future.

Cogilent Solutions, a software company, has been accused of running a telecom facility on commercial basis without a license.

In a detailed report to the ministry, the PSEB has suggested holding of an impartial investigation into controversy in order to identify any procedural violations, assign responsibility and remedy the loopholes.

A joint team of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested the chief executive of Cogilent Solutions on December 5 for allegedly running VoIP (voice over internet protocol) commonly known as internet telephony on commercial basis without a valid PTA license.

The raid was conducted on the complaint of Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL). The bail appeal of the company’s executive officer Faisal Chohan would be taken up by Sessions Judge, Islamabad, Mirza Rafiuz Zaman on Saturday (today).

The board suggested that an independent inquiry would protect the legitimate rights and activities of its member companies and avoid recurrence of similar incidents in future.

Placement of a series of advertisements in the leading international dailies explaining all non-commercial use of VoIP for personal, business, intra-office, and research/product development activities, have also been urged in the report.

Cogilent controversy calls for a review of the quality and completeness of ICT (information and communication technology) Law and its implementation, the report urged.

With high growth in IT and telecom, the report said, convergence of the two sectors, technological complexities, formulation and implementation of laws in areas ranging from VoIP to IPR (Industrial Property Right), Data Protection to Cyber Crimes is going to become increasingly difficult, the PSEB report further stated.