Dues recovery from telecom companies in the doldrums

ISALAMABAD: The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication’s decision of dissolving the steering committee has again delayed the issue of recovery of billions of rupees dues from telecom companies.

The ministry has withdrawn the letter dated July 23 regarding the reconstitution of the steering committee and issued a notification.

According to the sources, the Ministry of IT will take its own decision regarding the collection of dues. The steering committee included representatives of the Ministry of IT, PTA and LDI companies. Three LDI companies have approached the court over the expiry of the license

It should be noted that the telecom companies have to pay Rs24 billion principal amount and Rs54 billion late payment surcharge in the form of liabilities.

The IT Ministry in its earlier letter had asked the PTA to receive only 50 percent of the principal amount and the PTA was also asked to receive 50 percent of the principal amount in installments. The IT Ministry later withdrew its letter and then reconstituted the steering committee. Now the IT Ministry has also withdrawn the letter regarding the restructuring of the steering committee.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTA) has submitted its reply to NAB on the issue of non-recovery of dues of billions of rupees from telecom companies (LDIs).

According to the sources, PTA has stated in its reply submitted to NAB that due to lack of policy directive from the federal government, the collections could not be made. PTA issued notices to the companies for license renewal. LDI companies were given various options for payment of dues.

Even due to court cases, collections could not be made from LDI companies, PTA’s reply said that confusion arose from the letter of the IT Ministry regarding the collections as the IT Ministry has asked for the collection of dues from the telecom companies. The IT Ministry withdrew the letter regarding dues collections from the telecom companies.