Pakistan Telecom Authority has announced that Effective 1 May 2008
the APC rate to Pakistan will increase from current 2.5 cent to 10 cents a min in wholesale.
What it means is that the callers out side Pakistan will probably have
to pay around 12 to 15 cents a min to call Pakistan in retail, which at this time is around 3 to 5 cents a min.
I and many have worked very very hard to get this rate lower, however the LDI
operators are playing there card and making PTA do this.
The implications of this will be phenomenally bad for the growth of the
economy of Pakistan, as communication again will be limited, and to free the minds and economy freeing the communication gaps is very very important.
After many years India regulator has now finally forced the rate of APC in India from 10 cents to 5 cents, because the LDI cartel there was not wiling to do it. And our country the GOVT is increasing it, what kind of weird policy is that?
I understand that the LDI are having a hard time to make money, but that is due to their own bad business plan and not because the APC is lower, they are not making money from where they should make.
Pakistan is at this time a HEAVEN for users of Telecom Services, Countries give our examples for a great policy, and this small bad step will demolish everything this country has build o.
As a member of WTO PTA should have REMOVED the rate and made it ZERO and let the market forces decide the prices, instead of that they have made it a law that no one can reduce the rates.
The 5 cents going to the poor region of Pakistan is not going to make
enough money for the growth of the economy, and the LOSS that this will make is EXTREEMLY MUCH MORE HIGHER.
It is Extremely important for the people from outside Pakistan to be able to CALL TO Pakistan also at the cheapest possible rates, rather then an extremely high rate of 15 cents a min.
We can not make super Highways, we can not create 20 cheap airlines tomorrow, but the one thing we have that is great, is about to be destroyed right in front of our eyes.
I as a citizen of Pakistan would like to petition against this ruling, and would like the Pakistan Telecom Authority to abolish the entire APC structure and de-regulate it, and let the market forces decide the prices, and make sure that it does not go higher than 2.5 cent current rate.
