PESHAWAR, March 1: A GSM cellular company would disburse more than Rs2 million among residents of Lower Dir to settle a dispute arising out of its failure to provide communication facility, sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

The settlement was reached at a meeting attended by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) regional chief Nisar Ahmad Awan, Lower Dir district Nazim Ihsan-ul-Haq and Mobilink cellular phone company's officials.

During the meeting, the phone company agreed to pay the money collected through its franchise in Chakdara, Lower Dir, after it failed to start service in time, which had been promised to the people, Mr Ihsan told Dawn by telephone.

The company had set up the franchise in Chakdara about eight months ago and collected more than Rs2 million from people with a promise to provide communication facility in a short time, Mr Ihsan said, adding that the company had failed to start its service in Lower Dir.

The company, the nazim said, had now promised to disburse the amount among the public in the coming week under the supervision of the PTA the district nazim said. In a related development, the PTA has planned to impose penalty on two GSM mobile phone companies for their failure to provide quality service to their customers in Bannu, sources told Dawn.

The PTA recently started a country-wide survey to determine the quality of three GSM cellular companies after receiving public complaints. The services of the companies - Paktel, Mobilink and Ufone - were not bad in Peshawar, the sources said. However, when the PTA team went to Bannu, two of the three companies refused to go along with them and returned from Kohat a few days ago.