ISLAMABAD: The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on Monday issued show-cause notices to all the five mobile companies operating in the country for deceptive marketing and charging hidden fees from consumers.

The notices have been issued to Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Zong and Warid for alleged violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010.

The CCP took notice of the imposition of additional charges by the mobile companies at the time of reload of balance for prepaid connections.

The CCP has said that the additional charges were introduced for the first time in July 2011 under various titles, such as operational charge, maintenance fee, administrative fee etc. and ranged from 1.0pc to 1.5pc.

Later on, the percentage of these additional charges was revised and increased by the mobile companies in 2012, and again in 2013.

To determine the extent of hidden charges, the CCP initiated an enquiry, which revealed that currently these additional charges range from 3pc to 5pc.

The enquiry report was finalised on Nov 20, and based on this report the CCP decided to issue show-cause notices.

The report said that deduction of additional charges at the time of every reload of balance apparently does not relate to any specific service being rendered to consumers.

“These additional charges may constitute ‘hidden’ costs of acquiring cellular telecommunication services, giving the impression that the prices of such services are lower than they actually are, thereby constituting a deceptive marketing practice in violation of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010,” the report added.

The CCP report said that Pakistan’s mobile communication services market comprises some of the world’s largest and most experienced telecom companies, including Orascom (Egypt), Telenor (Norway), Warid Telecom (Abu Dhabi Group), China Mobile and Etisalat (UAE based company).

Cellular mobile facilities are now available to over 90pc of country’s population, as total mobile subscribers have reached more than 100 million.

The tele-density of the country has reached 68.39pc, with a hike of 6.7pc per annum. Mobilink continues to lead the mobile subscribers market with 30.7pc share chased by Telenor (24.5pc), Ufone (18.9pc), Warid (16pc) and Zong (10pc).