PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) was established by the Federal Government in 1996. PTA was given the duty of regulating the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication system.
PTA was also provided the provision of telecommunication services in Pakistan, to promote and protect the interests of users, to make sure the availability of a wide range of high quality, efficient, cost effective and competitive telecommunication services throughout the Pakistan as well. It is considered that the telecom sector of Pakistan is the most frequently raising and booming industry of the country. The industry boosted to extreme levels during the time period of last president Pervez Musharraf. Due to the highly competitive market in Pakistan, consumers are enjoying high quality services with low cost cellular products.
Another reason for the boost in the telecom industry is the value added services the telecommunication companies are providing, which are voice mails, message services, affordable overseas call rates, MMS services and connecting people through internet facilities.
Moreover the 5 giant cellular companies continue to present more innovation and competitive opportunities to engage more subscribers.
Pakistan is gaining more heights when compared to its neighbors in the field of telecommunication. Coverage of cellular mobile services has reached almost all the corners of Pakistan, connecting most of the population in rural and urban areas.
PTA has also announced the launch of 3G network by the end of this year and that will also help taking the industry to extreme heights. The users of the cellular networks in 2003 were counted as 5022908 and by the June of 2011 they were 108894518.
Wateen's commercial Wimax network in Pakistan was the biggest Wimax system installed in the region. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) invested up to Rs50 billion in the Federal Consolidation Fund (FCF) during the period of ten years and Rs2 billion among them were invested in 2007 to 2008.
Telecom industry also shed a positive impact on the issue of unemployment in the country by providing 1 million direct and indirect jobs. The actual reason of the super boost in the telecom industry of Pakistan is the providence of the numerous numbers of licenses to the operators.
The companies, who have earned enough profits against their investments, during the time period of 10 to 15 years, don't bear the new coming competitive operators. So they sell their services on throw away prices to make the field difficult for the new comer cellular operators and don't want to compensate their users at any cost.
PTA, by the rules and regulations, also owns the responsibility to protect the rights of its license holders. The new license holders have already paid huge revenues to the government of Pakistan in terms of license fees. By having the license of PTA they have earned a strong right against PTA due to the violation of their protection.
The PTA was supposed to provide them level playing field and the operators should be stopped to indulge in such practices which are commonly termed as anti competitive.
