Cable operators postpone strike call against DTH auction till Friday
- By Web Desk -
- Nov 15, 2016
ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Cable Operators Association (APCOA) and Cable Operators Federation of Pakistan (COFP) have postponed strike call till Friday against Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)’s decision to issue Direct to Home (DTH) service licences to only three companies, ARY News reported.
The cable operators said next course of action would be announced after meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar this Friday.
Talking to media in Islamabad, Chairman COFP Imran Abidi and Chairman APCOA Khalid Arain said Ishaq Dar has assured that complaints of cable operators would be resolved on emergency basis.
Khalid Arain said cable operators were against auction of DTH going to take place on November 23.
“Auctioning of DTH is equal to economical murder of hundreds and thousands of cable operators,” he said.
He said Pemra had made cable operators spend millions of rupees on digitization of cable TV and even the first phase of digitization was not complete and they had announced to auction DTS.
The cable operators demanded from the government to put off auction of DTH for at least two years.
They said the cable operators had all the right to protest by suspending transmissions if their demands were not met.
“We have called off strike till a meeting with the government on Friday. Hopefully, our reservations would be addressed by then,” they said.