PTA Licenses New LDI Operator to Boost Competition

• PTA grants LDI license to Dynasty Telcom (Private) Ltd.
• Dynasty Telcom has submitted a $0.5 million license fee and $10 million in bank guarantees.
• This is the third LDI license granted by PTA this year.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has granted another Long Distance International (LDI) license to a local company known as Dynasty Telcom (Private) Ltd.

The PTA has authorized Dynasty Telcom to operate as an LDI provider after the company successfully met all the necessary legal requirements.

As part of the licensing process, Dynasty Telcom has submitted a $0.5 million license fee and $10 million in bank guarantees to support the installation of a 1,500 km optical fiber cable network.

This year, the PTA has now issued its third LDI license. In January, Zeta Technologies (Private) Ltd. received an LDI license, and in February, HG Telecommunication (Private) Ltd. was granted one as well. It’s worth noting that despite the issuance of this new LDI license, the total number of LDI operators in the country remains at 19.

According to the PTA, once a company obtains an LDI license, it has a period of 18 months to initiate its operations. After this initial period, PTA teams conduct a review of the company’s equipment, following a specified checklist, and then submit a report to the authority.

Based on this report, the PTA issues a Commencement of Operations Certificate, which allows the company to commence its operations.

Notably, Dynasty Telcom did not require additional clearance for registration since it is a local company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Clearance from the Ministry of Interior is only mandatory for international firms or companies with foreign directors.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority reactivated the issuance of LDI licenses last year after an eight-year hiatus. In 2006, the Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Bodies (CCRB) imposed a freeze on granting Mobile, Local Loop (LL), and LDI licenses for seven years.

This freeze ended on March 22, 2013, leading to the issuance of an LDI license to China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak).

However, after this issuance, the granting of LDI licenses was once again put on hold.