PTA tries to ignore its responsibility

How come Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) can call the service “un-regulated and optional”, I ask Mr. Dogar that the whole industry is going to rely on this very basic service in the future and I remind him of Mobile Banking and the services like EasyPaisa which are not possible without SMS. If the SMS service is un-regulated then I doubt the whole banking and transaction system that operator is talking about  going to be implemented in Pakistan will be “un-regulated

Recently, Number of national newspaper published this news that certain mobile phone companies have stopped their Bundle SMS offer on the occasion of Eid ul Adha.

After the media reports PTA conducted a meeting with all the operators. The meeting was conducted and headed by Mr. Talib Dogar, DG PTA and it was attended by representatives of the operators. According to sources, Mr. Dogar was worried about media reports and authority wanted to clear itself. From Telenor it was told that company was not stopping any sort of SMS offer whereas Mobilink’s representative expressed his views by stating that the company could stop and start any offer/package as per its own decision. At the end of this meeting PTA asked the operators to do the following;

• Ensure quality of their services during Eid and other such occasions
• Inform their subscribers adequately about withdrawal of any packages and SMS bundle offers prior to their suspension
• Operators shall intimate the Authority well in advance whether the SMS bundle package has been withdrawn during the occasions such as Eids/New year etc
• Inclusion of adequate information in media campaign with regard to validity period of the SMS bundle package offer

As we are writing these lines it is still mentioned on the Telenor’s website that “All Bundle/Discount/Bonus Offer subscriptions shall not be valid for Special Occasions. Special Occasions include 6 Days of Eid ul Fitr and Eid Ul Adha along with their respective Chand Raats and 1 day of New Year”.

But official correspondence with Telenor’s spokesman confirms that all kind of bundle offers including Stand Alone SMS package and Voice+SMS will be active on Eid ul Adha. As per their response through email “Telenor Pakistan is continuing its SMS bundle offer on Eid ul Adha that includes Stand alone as well as voice package”.

Mobilink media representative was not available to respond. When called at Mobilink’s call center, it was told that Mobilink is stopping it’s per day SMS bundle offer on Eid ul Adha which will be resumed after December 2, 2009 whereas, Voice+SMS is still available. In above mentioned meeting it was directed by authority that operator will issue adverts to let the consumer know about suspension of any service. So far there is not public notice from the Mobilink. All the other operators are continuing their SMS packages on the coming Eid.

In its press release authority says, “Value-added services offered by mobile operators such as SMS are un-regulated services in terms of pricing and validity. Further, the bundled packages are optional services offered by the operators which require consumers to opt-in and agreeing to the terms and conditions offered by the operators. Since SMS bundle packages are not mandatory packages, PTA is only regulating quality of services whereby the operators are required to conform to the quality parameters as per the license terms and conditions“

There seems to be a big confusion and lack of understanding on everyone’s end. Operators find it its own right to decide what to stop and what to start and authority declares this very basic service as “un-regulated and optional”. After the cut throat competition in the industry, lucrative SMS packages turned out to be a major reason for the fresh sales which the companies are offering. Existing customers in the prepaid category are also choosing to remain onboard on the basis of bundle offers, especially the youth. The question is, how can a seller decide himself to deprive the buyer of anything later that was actually a charm at the time of sale and without any notice?

On the occasions like Eid, consumers rely mostly on SMS packages to send their wishes to loved ones. The service is like a “Dear Virtual Friend” to a customer which is available to convey or transfer the sentiments and wishes among people. But what if the friend goes away at the time of need? Isn’t it a deception without any notice? On what grounds a communication service is started, I think the purpose is to help people communicate when they need OR is it when the service provider allow?

Secondly, how come PTA can call the service “un-regulated and optional”, I ask Mr. Dogar that the whole industry is going to rely on this very basic service in the future and I remind him of Mobile Banking and the services like EasyPaisa which are not possible without SMS. If the SMS service is un-regulated then I doubt the whole banking and transaction system that operator is talking about will and going to be implemented in Pakistan will be “un-regulated”. How people are going to believe on the authority and its action becomes a real concern.

We tried to get the version of PTA by calling Mr. Talib Dogar but he refused to give any comment on the issue of consumer rights and asked us to wait for the call from PR person, which we are still waiting.

Authority says, it took serious notice when certain operators stopped the SMS service at the time of Eid ul Fitr after several customers complained about this and it was published in the media as well. The results of PTA’s actions are still not made public and the practice continues.

PTA also declares that “it is only regulating quality of services”. I think they forgot to mention that pricing and fair competition is also its responsibility besides dozens others. If this is the case, then, PTA shouldn’t be worried about the illegal sales of SIMs because that doesn’t involve the quality of services. One may also ask how many “quality of service (QoS) surveys PTA has conducted so far during the past 10 years. Isn’t it ridiculous that the top most authority tries to avoid the reality?

Telenor had planned to stop the service but changed its mind just today after the media reports and PTA’s resultant meeting. We are still waiting a public notice or an advert from the Mobilink.

Tags: Cellular Operators, Mobile banking, pta, Service Quality, SMS Package, Unregistered SIM