International calls: High tariffs of foreign operators behind hike in rates: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
By: WAQAR LILLAH
ISLAMABAD: Recent increase in International calls rate is not due to increase in Approved Settlement Rate (ASR), which is 8.8 per minute, but it is because of foreign operators who are charging high international call rates, National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was informed here on Wednesday.
Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Farooq Awan, while briefing the committee on levy imposed by the PTA on International calls, blamed foreign operators for the increase in international calls rates, adding that incoming call traffic being charged per minute by foreign operators from UK is between US 19 and 48, UAE 65 and Saudi Arabia 45. However, the ASR is set by the PTA at 8.8 per minute with Access Promotion Contribution (APC) share of 2.9 per minute.
He said that cheap rates offered by resellers abroad had problems such as QoS, under-reporting/under-cutting of minutes and higher billing pulse of 10/20 minutes and these resellers were not willing to compromise on their profits and were trying to exploit expatriates.
He said that no APC had been levied on International incoming SMS in Pakistan whereas international carriers also levy such charges on International SMS termination, adding that no APC is applicable on other forms of technologies such as VoIP through internet, Google, Ikhaya, Skype and Viber for free calls to Pakistan from abroad.
The committee which met with Dewan Ashiq Hussain Bokhari in the chair was briefed on the levy imposed by the PTA on International Calls and Model villages of Islamabad.
About the performance of International Clearing House Exchange (ICH), Chairman PTA informed the committee that performance of the ICH can be proved by the fact that as of October 20 this year, the ICH has fetched $52.72 million in the form of foreign exchange for Pakistan. The national exchequer earned $17.37 million in terms of APC for USF and $35.34 million as LDI share as of October 20 this year. The new arrangement is beneficial to the telecom sector and is yielding higher revenues for the government, he added.
The Lahore High Court has granted stay on establishment of ICH on a writ petition filed by Brain Telecom Pvt. Ltd and notices have been served to Ministry of Information and Technology (MoIT), PTA, CCP and PTCL and next date of hearing is November 14, Chairman PTA said.
Representatives of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) briefed the committee on Model Villages in Islamabad. They said that the CDA has planned at least eight model villages and suburban centers within the limits of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) for rehabilitation of Islamabad affectees.
These model villages and suburban centers had been created in the light Islamabad Master Plan of Islamabad which include: Farash (suburban centre), Humak (suburban centre), Kuri , Margalla Town, Nurpur Shahan, Rawal Town, Shahzad Town and Tarali.
They said that the Model village of Margalla Town and Rawal Town and the suburban centre of Noorpur Shahan fell within the municipal limits of Islamabad while others were outside the limits.
For making Model villages affordable for majority of the affectees, it was decided that the standard of development be kept low by means of provision of electricity through overhead network, water supply through community stand pots, no vehicular access to houses, instead 5- to 10-foot-wide pedestrian path, no central sewerage system and villages were without gas and telephone, they added.
However, the CDA could not maintain aforementioned pattern of development standard as most of original allottees sold their plots to outsiders and some plots were also allotted to journalists by the CDA.
Meanwhile, the CDA is providing partial municipal facilities such as garbage collection, water supply, streetlights and maintenance of roads, parks and playfields to five model villages located outside Islamabad’s municipal limits, they said.
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