PESHAWAR, June 16: PTCL Northern Region-I has cleared the impression about high rates of phone calls in Chitral and elaborated its call-charging policy to remove the misconception of the people there.

A PTCL spokesman, in a press release issued the other day here, says that across the country a phone call within 25km is charged as local. In this regard, the data in Chitral MSU and associated RLU’s, when checked, was found correct as per tariff policy, he adds.

The distance between Chitral city and Mastuj town is 110km and lies in zone-3 according to PTCL standards. The charging pulse for zone-3 occurs after every 19.8, 39.6 and 79.2 seconds for full, half and quarter rate respectively.

Whereas the distance between Chitral City and Peshawar is 365km and it lies in zone-4 as per PTCL zoning matrix. The charging pulse for zone-4 occurs after every 10.6, 21.2 and 42.4 seconds for full, half and quarter rates respectively.

The call rates for Chitral-Buni and Chitral-Drosh are not like that of Chitral-Peshawar, as both are lying in zone-2. The charging pulse for zone-2 occurs after every 34.6, 69.2 and 138 seconds for full, half and quarter rates respectively.

The database of Buni and Mastuj RLUs was checked and found that the calls from both side, within the radial distance of 25km, are charged as local.

He also maintains that the subscribers in Chitral are availing half and quarter rates packages when they are making calls to zone-2, 3 and 4 as per PTCL policy. Half and quarter rate package is not applicable on local calls.