May 12, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1428

LAHORE, May 11: The launch a TV channel on cell phones in the country has underlined the need to plan modalities about the merger of the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to meet the requirements of both fast thriving media and telecom in the country.

Both the PTA and Pemra had no idea how to deal with the launch of mobile TV when telecom company Telenor launched the service two weeks ago.

The PTA, which deals with telecom, said that it had nothing to do with the mobile TV while Pemra claimed that it came in its purview but none of its law addressed the problem.

Though Pemra has reportedly started framing new rules for mobile TV but media and telecom experts say both sectors will have to be merged to deal such problems in days to come.

Aftab Ahmed, a media lawyer, said the complex system of getting a licence from Pemra or the PTA had opened up a debate whether there should be two regulatory bodies — one for telecom regulations and the other for content or media regulations — in Pakistan.

He said the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia of late had merged their telecom and media regulatory bodies to facilitate their stakeholders. He said it was right time to ponder over the merger of the PTA and Pemra to meet the needs of both sectors.

The PTA not only regulates the telecom sector but also is also responsible for allocating frequency to Pemra’s licensees.

Pemra grants licences for radio, television, cable distribution and technologies like multichannel multipoint distribution service (MMDS). The licensing of the Internet service providers also falls under the jurisdiction of the PTA.

Mr Alam said the arrival of new technologies and overlapping roles of both regulators had resulted in many issues like delay in allocation of frequency and spectrum allocation to Pemra’s licensees.

After getting a license from Pemra for radio, television, the MMDS or any other service that involves the use of spectrum, a licensee has to apply to the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) through the PTA for frequency allocation. Similarly, a licensee of Pemra using any spectrum has to pay annual spectrum charges to the PTA as well, he says.

“Pemra has no control on the web contents and internet services in Pakistan. Any licensee of Pemra can run his programme, which is otherwise banned by it. To block the programme, Pemra has to approach the PTA. Multi-media messaging at present and 3G mobile communication in future can also lead to such controversies between them.”

Pemra spokesperson Muhammad Saleem says that both the telecom and the electronic media sectors are thriving in the country and their merger might be needed at a later stage.