ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has renewed the licences of Telenor, Ufone and Jazz to operate in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan for another 15 years.

These licences were to be expired on June 25 (today).

PTA chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa and chief executive officers (CEOs) of Telenor, Jazz and Ufone along with senior representatives of these cellular mobile operators (CMOs) attended the licence renewal signing ceremony held at the PTA headquarters in Islamabad on Wednesday.

The three CMOs deposited with the PTA 50 per cent of the licence renewal fee. The total licence fee to be paid by these companies is $40.5m that is $13.5m per company.

Federal Secretary for Information Technology (IT) Dr Sohail Rajput, Member Finance Mohammad Naveed and Member Compliance and Enforcement Dr Khawar Siddique Khokhar, of the PTA, the executive director of the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), joint secretary of the GB Council, deputy secretary (finance) and deputy secretary (welfare and development) of the AJK Council and senior officers of the PTA also attended the ceremony.

Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque congratulated the masses of AJK and GB on the completion of the process of cellular license renewal.

He said in a statement that the AJK and GB were the prime areas of tourism in Pakistan and the license renewal would pave the way for provision of 3G/4G and next generation mobile services to the consumers of these areas as well the tourists.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2021