PTA devises 5-year fee structure
By Muhammad Yasir
KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has devised a five-year fee structure for the Universal Access Number (UAN) allocated to applicants of various categories.
The regulatory body has sought stakeholders’ recommendations on its determined charges ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 500,000 for the category of A, B, C and D. PTA recommended that the UAN charges should be made in advance for a period of five years at the start of every five years. The telecom regulator has notified 194 different formulas for UAN charges under various categories in its draft released recently. The allocation of number with respect to multiple categories will be made in accordance with the prescribed formulas.
The PTA’s draft stated nine UANs under category ‘D’ that would be charged Rs 500,000 per annum each. Under category ‘C’, 18 methods have been stated for UAN at Rs 320,000 annual fee for each. In category ‘B’, 37 UAN structures have been mentioned at the rates of Rs 160,000 each. In the last category A, 130 formulas have been stated for UAN and will be charged Rs 20,000 per year.
The charges on the allocation of category ‘C’ and ‘D’ UAN shall be multiple for the organisation, it said. Stakeholders’ comments on UAN charging regime on the subject of reviewing shall be made part of the Number Allocation and Administration Regulations.
In 2008, the telecom authority auctioned 36 different numbers under its three different categories namely, golden, diamond and platinum. PTA fixed Rs 500,000 charges for UAN under platinum category. It labelled Rs 360,000 charges for diamond subscribers and Rs 160,000 for gold subscribers. The charges were received on annual basis besides its bills for other services.
The increase of UANs by the PTA is to facilitate business and services sector organisations’ telecommunication network for better operations and activities. The special UANs will help business to market their services and products in the most efficient manner. The PTA has divided UANs in six categories that include Geographic Numbering Series (GNS), NSPCs, NDC, PRI codes, PRS, UIN, UAN, short codes and Toll Free Numbers. PTA has granted subscription to over six million various users under aforementioned categories that include various government and private sector companies.
However, the authority has divided particularly commercial sector UANs in A, B and C categories and had granted 77 subscribers to this service by the end of 2007.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/20/2010
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