KARACHI, Feb 23: At least 10 more telecoms companies offering international calls at highly economical rates will begin operation within 45 days.

A high-ranking official of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority told Dawn on Wednesday that the regional directorate had inspected the offices of 10 out of the 12 companies which had obtained Long Distance International licences.

He added that these companies would shortly receive no-objection certificates from the telecoms regulator. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority issued Long Distance International licences to 12 companies in mid-2004.

The licences allowed the companies to establish overseas telephone calls' operations. The government had earned licence fees to the tune of Rs345.25 million by November 2004.

The regional PTA director, Col Rizwan Hydri, told Dawn that tariff offered by the new LDI companies would be much less than that of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company. "And we will not regulate the tariff offered by the new entrants. So, we don't mind if they offer very low tariff. But we will continue to regulate the tariff offered by the PTCL, which has been designated as a Significant Market Player under the deregulation policy.

Since SMPs can drive new entrants out of business by offering cut-throat competition, their tariff has to be regulated," he explained. While the PTCL charges Rs20 per minute for overseas calls, new telecoms companies are already offering much lower rates.

But subscribers have also started to complain about poor quality of calling cards offered by new companies. The PTA regional director said that all those subscribers who experienced trouble in using the calling cards offered by new telecommunications should approach the regulator without delay. He said action would be taken against those telecoms companies which did not offer the services they promised.