ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Monday slashed interconnection charges proposed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) up to 45 per cent to facilitate new Long Distance and International (LDI) and Wireless Local Loop (WLL) licensees.

The decision to this effect was announced by PTA Chairman Shahzada Alam Malik after presiding over a meeting between the representatives of PTCL, Special Communication Organization (SCO), the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) and LDI operators.

The decision was taken after extensive deliberations and interaction with new operators which would also facilitate the operators in different interconnection arrangements like origination, termination, transit, leased line, transmission capacity and carrier pre-selection services.

PTCL, in its initial Reference Interconnect Offer (RIO) submitted to PTA, had proposed origination/termination charges for metropolitan area at Rs0.65, Rs0.58 and Rs0.41 per minute for peak, off peak 1 and off peak timings respectively, which now have been reduced by PTA to Rs0.50, Rs0.40 and Rs0.30.

Similarly, for national termination of greater than 160 kilometres, charges proposed by PTCL were Rs2.39, Rs1.85 and Rs0.94 per minute for peak, off peak 1 and off peak timings respectively, which now have been slashed to Rs1.35, Rs1.03 and Rs0.52.

Moreover, PTA has also reduced transmission circuit rates (E1 charges) from Rs85,500 to Rs60,000 and One-off charge for carrier pre-selection facility from Rs410,000 to Rs300,000 to encourage new operators to provide their customers with the option of carrier pre-selection at affordable prices.

While announcing the relief package for new operators, PTA chairman termed the reduction in the interconnection charges as a milestone in the telecom deregulated scenario as this would substantially reduce operational cost for new players, who would be in a better position to provide high quality service to the subscribers at reasonable rates.

Mr Shahzada commended cooperative behaviour of PTCL and new operators in reaching a common ground for interconnect arrangements and expressed hope that LDI operators would start their business within two weeks while Wireless Local Loop (WLL) operators would also develop their infrastructure to start their operation soon.

He also urged the cellular operators to follow the suit and come up with good interconnection arrangements with the new operators. He said PTA would also resolve the mobile interconnection issue and announce mobile termination rates soon.