Rs150m fine imposed on cellular firm | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Rs150m fine imposed on cellular firm

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday slapped Rs150 million fine on a cellular giant for violating standard operating procedures in issuing SIMs.

The fine followed a show-cause notice sent to Ufone. “Even a slightest deviation from the given procedures cannot be ignored or tolerated especially when the company is issuing nearly 25,000 SIMs in a single day,” said a PTA official.

“A SIM number 03314770183 admittedly issued by Ufone in violation of SOPs was traced back to a terror incident in Lahore,” he said.

According to PTA, a call centre agent overlooked a wrong answer when the subscriber at the other end responding to the first few questions gave an inaccurate mother’s name.

During a hearing, the counsel representing Ufone regretted contraventions and admitted that the aforesaid number was activated mistakenly by one of its call centre agents.

The licencee maintained that it was issuing about 25,000 connections per day and trying to minimise chances of mistakes.

The licencee took the matter seriously and suspended the employee besides issuing warning to all the call centres for zero tolerance towards such mistakes.

PTA stated that since the licencee had admitted flouting of rules and extended a helping hand to the authority in establishing the contravention of terms and conditions, a lenient view was taken in the matter by imposing Rs150 million fine to be paid within one month from the date of issuance of the order.

When Ufone was contacted, a senior official said: “We have 30 days. We will be going back to Pakistan Telecommu-nication Autho-rity. The management will decide how and when to pay up.”
Source: Dawn
Date:3/4/2010