The LDI operators in Pakistan are Multinet, Worldcall, Witribe, Telecard, Redtone, Voicecom, 4BGentel, ADG, Dancom, Circlenet, Telenor, Wateen, Link Direct International and PTCL. - File photo

LAHORE: All 14 Long Distance International (LDI) operators in Pakistan have agreed to set up an International Clearing House (ICH) where all incoming traffic will be terminated by foreign carriers through PTCL, thus ending the price war among them.

A source in the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told Dawn on Thursday that all operators had made their initials on the proposed draft agreement of ICH and forwarded the same to the Competition Commission of Pakistan, Ministry of Information Technology, the
Federal Board of Revenue and PTA for their respective approval and comments.

He said owing to the price war Pakistan was losing $40 million per month which could be saved only by establishing the ICH. “Telecom is an important sector of the economy and also a source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. But for the last two years or so most operators are selling Pakistan termination rate for international inbound traffic much lower than the rate fixed by the PTA to increase respective market share,” he said.

He said a couple of operators were selling Pakistan termination even less than Access Promotion Contribution (APC) which was causing loss of millions of dollars per month,” he said, adding to combat grey traffic the operators had been forced to terminating international
traffic at much lower rates than approved.

According to a fair estimate, he said only ICH could contribute additional $500 million per year to the economy. Under the proposed ICH, all foreign operators and carriers will route their traffic through ICH on a fixed Approved Settlement Rate (ASR) of $0.0625/min regardless of their volume and if any operator will not accept the rate same will be blocked by the ICH.

The LDI operators are Multinet, Worldcall, Witribe, Telecard, Redtone, Voicecom, 4BGentel, ADG, Dancom, Circlenet, Telenor, Wateen, Link Direct International and PTCL.

The PTA had taken the initiative in 2008 to form ICH however due to complex nature of the business the LDIs could not develop a consensus among them then.

An official of an operator told Dawn that a levy of APC had encouraged the illegal international incoming roaming traffic which caused revenue loss to LDI operators as well as to the national exchequer. The current rate had dropped to as low as 2.20 cents per minute as against direct cost of 5.5 cents.

“As the LDI operators have finally had a consensus this time we are hopeful of receiving favourable response from the CCP, FBR, IT ministry and PTA over the proposed formation of the ICH,” he said.

PTA Chairman Dr Muhammad Yasin told Dawn that the authority would give its input after receiving the ICH draft from the LDI operators.