Recent claims that stated the regulator was forbidding mobile operators from raising their pricing have been corrected by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Except for Jazz, which is classified as a major mobile operator under Significant Market Player (SMP) and the Jazz-Warid Merger, the PTA claims it has little control over the rates charged by Pakistan’s mobile carriers.
PTA has clarified the circumstances in a news release related to this. The regulator highlighted that the claim that it is prohibiting mobile operators from raising their rates is false and deceptive with regard to a news item that surfaced in a segment of the media.
In order to prevent any anti-competitive actions by the market leader, the regulator said that it solely supervises tariffs for PMCL (Jazz), the leading mobile operator in Pakistan, in accordance with the Significant Market Player (SMP) determination and Jazz-Warid Merger condition.
Other operators have also increased their tariffs, such as: Ufone increased tariffs of its 42 packages by an average of 16.4% in June 2022.
— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) August 2, 2022
According to PTA, the remaining Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are allowed to determine their pricing in accordance with their business needs, and the PTA does not get involved with their tariff modifications. According to the statement, PTA authorised 25 Jazz-submitted tariff proposals during the month of June 2022, with an average price rise of 14% due to the company’s rising operating expenses.
According to the PTA, other providers have also raised their rates, including Ufone, which in June 2022 increased rates for 42 packages by an average of 16.4 percent. According to PTA, Pakistan’s competitive telecom sector and forward-thinking rules and regulations have made Pakistan’s telecom services among the most reasonably priced in the world.
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“Pakistan has improved 15 points in the affordability rating, moving up from 78th place in 2021 to 63rd place in 2022, outperforming Bangladesh (64th),” according to the EIU Inclusive Internet Index 2022. added PTA
In addition, due to rivalry, Pakistan’s mobile industry for cellular phones has a low ARPU, with an average ARPU per month of Rs. 215 in FY2021, which has slightly grown to Rs. 220 in FY2022 (Jul 21 to Mar 2022).