LAHORE, Dec 3: Refusing to lag behind in making a fast buck, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited management has come up with a novel idea to augment financial resources by introducing a package which it has made ‘mandatory’ for all the subscribers.

Introduced as ‘PTCL Pakistan Package’, the facility offers that inter-city calls (landline to landline and through V-phone) up to 5,000 minutes will now cost only Rs199 plus taxes to a subscriber every month.

To the astonishment of the subscribers, the package is “not offered to them rather it is being imposed on them”. Unlike the common practice of offering packages to subscribers, the PTCL has made it clear to its (over six million) subscribers that the facility is available from this month and Rs199 plus taxes will be charged against it.

However, those who are not interested in it can go for ‘deactivation’ by calling the PTCL helpline 1236.

“This is for the first time that a so-called subscriber-friendly package has been made compulsory. Now a subscriber, who is either not interested or has no utility of this new package, will have to get it deactivated by calling on the helpline,” said a business executive who has been associated with the telecom sector. It was against the common practice, he added.

“If I am interested in certain package offered by the service provider, I will ask for it. But here the case is different. The service provider is telling me that one or the other package has been provided to me and if I am not interested then I should request for deactivation. This is only possible here in Pakistan where nobody checks such high-handedness,” he said.

What annoyed many other subscribers was the fact that despite repeated attempts they were not able to get through the helpline (1236) to seek deactivation. “I have no relative in any other city and the package is useless for me. I tried to contact the helpline several times, but to no avail”, said Asghar Ali.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, which is supposed to regulate the telecom sector, has yet to take note of the package.

A PTCL spokesman, Ali Qadir told Dawn that the company had made the package available to all its subscribers and those who were not interested in it could get it deactivated through the helpline.