LAHORE, April 30: Telephone operators, including the state-owned PTCL, are incurring a loss of about $15 million a month because of illegal termination of millions of voice communication minutes originating from foreign countries each day to Pakistan.

The telephone calls originating from abroad, especially the US and the UK, are terminated by ‘unlicensed’ operators through VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and satellite connections, and are transferred to the end users in Pakistan through the PTCL or cell phone operators’ network.

“This (illegal) practice allows foreign telephone operators to avoid paying money to the PTCL and other local operators,” says a private telephone operator, who asked not to be named.

“What actually happens is that call originating platforms from different parts of the world deliver the calls to a VOIP exchange installed here in Pakistan and the call is transferred to its end destination as a local call,” he told this reporter on Saturday.

The termination of calls from overseas is normally known as grey market, and is said to be a serious threat to the interests of the licensed private telecom companies and the PTCL.

“The private telecom operators, which have acquired licenses for local loop, and long distance and international traffic, have invested millions of dollars in their operations. This illegal business can and does erode profitability of legitimate operators and create negative image for the investment climate in Pakistan,” he said.

“Why should consumers use our lines to call their relatives or friends abroad if they have access to the same service offered by unlicensed or illegal operators by paying far less,” he wondered.

He said the legal operators had to pay 11 cents or about Rs6 per minute as Access Promotion Charge (APC) to the PTCL alone. “But as cheaper options are available to the callers from overseas and here, business goes to the illegal operators,” he said.

The operators said the means and equipment to detect illegal termination were available in the country and the PTCL could check the practice if it wanted to. “Since most illegal operators use the PTCL network for outward calls, it shouldn’t be difficult for it to detect the illegal business,” they said.

The operators further said some of these illegal operations had been detected in the recent past, but the practice was widespread and more effective measures were needed to root it out.

The laws under which the crime was booked were inadequate and carried little penalty, they said. “In the UAE the penalty for the same crime is up to 25 years imprisonment,” they said, adding no detected case had been prosecuted so far.

The operators said the illegal business could not be run without the connivance of the staff of the operators like the PTCL and cellular phone companies, as the lines that were used for outward calls ran high traffic at some odd hours — like late in the night.