ISLAMABAD: The Mi­­nistry of IT and Telecom as well as telecom regulator have failed to reach any settlement with Long Distance & International (LDI) operators, with 80 per cent of these companies functioning without valid licences.

A high-level committee formed by the Ministry of IT and Telecom to negotiate a settlement with 10 LDI companies has also been dissolved. The pending amount against these companies has reached almost Rs90 billion, including Rs24.11bn in principal amount, with late payment surcharges also surging.

An IT ministry report said there were 10 companies solely operating as LDIs, but only 4B Gentel and Multinet have valid operating licences. The operating licences of Worldcall, Redtone, ADG LDI, Telecard, Dan­com, Wisecomm, Circlenet and Wateen have expired, but they are not renewing them due to a dispute with the Pakistan Telecom­mu­nication Authority (PTA) as well as the IT ministry.

A senior PTA official told Dawn the matter was directly relat­­ed to the ministry as the LDI operators owed a staggering amount in terms of charges to the Universal Service Fund.

IT ministry officials said the issues related to pending dues with LDI operators will be resolved soon and a new formula has already been finalised.

A senior executive of one LDI said the dispute arose when PTA began applying rates notified for Access Promotion Contribution for Local Loop, a category payable to local loop operators licensed to the LDI.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024