KARACHI, Aug 1: Wireless local loop operators appear to be on a collision course with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) over its recent decision on single-cell mobility. The WLL operators alleged that the telecoms regulator had come under the pressure of cellphone operators and given a decision that was not in line with international standards.

According to a bulletin issued by the telecom regulator recently, out of the 17 companies which acquired WLL licences from the PTA, only three -– PTCL (V phone), Telecard and WorldCall –- have started their operations. The bulletin adds that there are over 189,000 WLL subscribers in the country.

The most stinging criticism came from the CDMA Development Group on July 22, 2005 to PTA chairman, Shahzada Alam, and said the PTA policy “will severely limit the benefits that CDMA WLL can provide the subscribers.” It also urged the PTA to reconsider its decision.

The letter, whose copy was given to Dawn by sources in the PTA, reads: “Over the several months leading to the decision, the CDG and a number of our member companies have gone on record and made presentations to the PTA clearly demonstrating that restricting mobility to one cell site with soft handoff does not take into account the cell breathing phenomena and hence has a negative impact on users at cell boundaries.”

Simply put, the letter says that the PTA decision has limited the mobility of wireless phone sets sold by WLL operators to its customers.

In a decision issued last month, the PTA defined “cell as geographical area covered by a predefined radio base station, consisting of one or up to three sectors of the single allocated frequency band.”

The PTA determination says: “The solution to the issue of limited mobility exhibits the real spirit of the Telecommunication Deregulation Policy 2003, which says that LL licensees who opt for wireless solutions may provide limited mobility within a cell, but not beyond local call charging radius. No inter-cell handovers and roaming to other networks will be allowed. It may be important to mention here that the handover, which is restricted under the policy, is an event in radio network in which the control of a call in progress is transferred from one cell to another cell or one frequency to another frequency. Under the determination issued by PTA, inter-cell handover and inter frequency handover from 450 MHz to 1900 MHz or 479 MHz etc would not be allowed. Furthermore the call in progress would be dropped in the case of crossing over into the neighbouring cells.” However, WLL operators insist that this definition of single cell is not in line with international standards.

Ali Ansari of DVCom said that in no other country with wire local loop networks “single cell” had been defined the way the PTA had defined it. “We understand that it was under the pressure of the so-called GSM lobby that the PTA took its decision on single-cell mobility,” he said.

“On the other hand, all WLL companies are local. It is strange that the PTA is prepared to discriminate against local companies in favour of foreign ones,” he said.

Salman Taseer of WorldCall said the recent PTA decision was “technically unfeasible”. The chief of V Phone of the PTCL, Ameeruddin, said he could not comment on the PTA decision.