Aminul Haque warns CMOs to ensure quality of service

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque has warned Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) to ensure quality of service (QoS) or they would face action.

“Our message is loud and clear that all those (companies) are not standing with Pakistan, so we are not standing with them. The mobile operators will have to ensure quality of service or they will face actions,” Federal Minister for IT Syed Aminul Haque said while addressing the signing ceremony of license awarding ceremony to Ufone for winning spectrum auction of Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) here at the PTA headquarters on Wednesday.

It is relevant to mention here that three major players withdrew from bidding for the spectrum auction and the only company Ufone, having public sector stakes, participated and won the spectrum by offering $279 million. This development has infuriated the government and now the government seems ready to take stern action against those who did not participate in the recent auction.

The minister said that the coverage of mobile phones would also be expanded. He said that the Universal Services Fund (USF) utilised Rs31 billion in the last three years for providing telecom services in far-flung rural areas across the country. The government is working to have smart phones for all.

He said that there were 160 million phone subscribers in the country in 2018 and now this number has touched 180.4 million in three years. The subscribers of broadband services stood at 70 million but now it had crossed 100 million in three years. “We have envisaged plans to increase broadband services to a whole 220 million by 2025 or 2026,” said the minister.

He said that there was an impression that the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) was sitting over spectrum but now this impression was fully dispelled as more spectrum would be made available for auction where more players would participate.

The Chairman PTA, Maj Gen (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa, said on the occasion that the regulator believed in promoting fair competition and providing level playing fields.

The CEO Ufone said that he had assumed his charge just a couple of months back and after winning the spectrum auction, their focus would be towards up-gradation of our sites for improving quality of services.

PTA’s DG Licensing Amir Shahzad said that they had hired an international consultant and Ufone secured 9 MHz out of 12.8 MHz, so it obtained 70 percent out of the 1800 MHz block. The base price was fixed at $31 million per one MHz, so total 9MHz was sold out at $279 million. The company will have to improve its quality of service from 2MHz to 4 MHz per second under licensing requirements, he added. According to PTA’s official announcement, the license signing ceremony of PTML was held on Wednesday at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad. License was issued to the company against the spectrum auction for Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) in Pakistan 2021, which includes enhanced network rollout obligations and Quality of Service standards to ensure consumer interest.

The event was attended by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Syed Aminul Haque, Federal Secretary for IT & Telecommunication, chairman PTA, members of the authority, Executive Director, Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and senior management of PTML. On the occasion, Federal Minister for IT&T Syed Aminul Haque said that the Ministry of IT was committed to enhancing connectivity and improving digital infrastructure in the country. The government is taking numerous steps to fulfill the Digital Pakistan vision. He congratulated Ufone on the award of the NGMS license.

The chairman PTA said that the PTA was working to ensure that Pakistanis have access to high quality services and benefit from ubiquitous coverage.

He also appreciated the tireless efforts of concerned officials of PTA, FAB and MoIT for timely conclusion of the spectrum auction process. At the event, CEO PTML said that the additional spectrum will build on its existing assets and enable the operator to deliver long-term value and connectivity to its subscribers.