KARACHI, Aug 24: WorldCom has paid amount due to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on time in June 2002 and the payment for the next quarter would be due at the end of September.

Brokerage firm, Taurus Securities, quoting sources at PTCL said in a report that the telecom management did not foresee any risk of default, following the filing for bankruptcy protection (Chapter 11) by WorldCom.

PTCL has interconnection arrangements with three US long-distance carriers, namely AT&T, WorldCom (MCI) and Sprint, to carry voice traffic between US and Pakistan. The US carriers collect the tariff— called the International Accounting Rates (IAR)—from its customers on the US side on incoming traffic, i.e. on calls originating in the US and terminating in Pakistan; and PTCL collects tariffs from its domestic customers on outgoing calls.

The carrier collecting tariff then pays half the collected amount—known as the Settlement Rate—to its counterpart.

Taurus Securities said that the PTCL’s incoming traffic, from US and in total from the rest of the world, far exceeded outgoing calls. PTCL had a large annual receivable settlement balance on its international operations, which was an important part of its total revenue base. Its revenues from international operations in financial year 2001 stood at Rs18.9 billion, or $325 million, while for financial year 2002, the projected balance was Rs18.4 billion or $307 million. Despite the higher incoming traffic, international revenues had been under pressure in recent years due to scheduled sharp reduction in the IAR, imposed by the US Federal Communication Commission, i.e from $2.2/min in financial year 1996 to $0.46/min in financial year 2003.

Settlement receipts from WorldCom currently account for 22 per cent of PTCL’s total annual international revenues, which was equivalent to $65 million, said the analysts, adding: “Payments were settled quarterly, so PTCL’s maximum receivable from WorldCom at any point in time would be around $16 million or Rs960 million.”