PTA finalises strict rollout obligations for telecom infrastructure licensees

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has moved to enforce significantly tougher rollout conditions for telecom infrastructure providers, signalling growing concern over slow national progress on digital connectivity targets, ARY News reported.

According to reports, the PTA has prepared a consultation paper outlining a strict proposed rollout plan. Under the new framework, TIP license holders would be required to establish at least one earth station or satellite hub in their first year of operations. Additionally, they would be obligated to lay 60 kilometres of optical fiber annually.

For tower and radio link infrastructure, the authority has recommended a mandatory minimum of 10 new installations each year.

A three-phase rollout plan has been proposed for submarine cable landing station (CLS) infrastructure. In the first year, licensees must obtain a permit-in-principle for the CLS.

The second year requires establishing the cable landing station and securing the commencement certificate. By the third year, the submarine CLS must be fully operational.

PTA has defended the toughened conditions, saying such measures are essential to meet national digital-connectivity goals. The TIP licence already covers permission to deploy earth stations, fiber networks, towers, and CLS infrastructure.

The authority has now invited stakeholders to provide feedback on the proposed obligations.

Official data shared by the PTA reveals why the regulator is tightening compliance: only 25 percent of TIP license holders have shown satisfactory progress. Out of 24 licensees, just 14 have laid optical fiber. Six companies have built networks of 300 kilometres or more, while five TIP holders have not begun any work at all.

The regulator expressed “serious concern” over inadequate progress by majority of infrastructure licensees, stressing that inactive entities are becoming a barrier to Pakistan’s broader digital-transformation agenda.

Earlier, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Zonal Office Lahore, in collaboration with the NCCIA Lahore, carried out successful raids against Telecom Franchisees involved in the illegal issuance of SIMs through biometric verification scanners.

These raids were conducted in Shahkot (District Nankana Sahib), Haveli Lakha (District Okara), and Yazman (District Bahawalpur).

During the raids, the joint PTA-NCCIA team seized a substantial quantity of suspicious SIMs and equipment used for unlawful activations.

All seized items were taken into custody by NCCIA as evidence.