Islamabad Court Confirms Regulator Can Seize Back Mobile License

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) says that the Islamabad high Court has upheld its decision to cancel the mobile operator license held by M/S Pakcom (Instaphone) for non-payment of license fees.

According to details, Instaphone's license was renewed on April 19, 2005 for another term of 15 years against the price of US$291 million payable in installments as per the license conditions. The licensee failed to follow the payment schedule provided in its renewed license. The licensee, through its representative from time to time, requested the Authority to allow time to make the outstanding payments.

Instaphone appealed against the decision, but lost. The court has however given Instaphone until May 9th to pay all the outstanding fees, or the license will be terminated.

According to figures from the Mobile World, Instaphone ended last September with around 340,000 subscribers, which is a puny 0.5% of the total market, so the impact of the license withdrawal is not expected to be significant on the local telecoms market. Quite what will happen to the company's subscribers is not clear yet - and the regulator has not expressed any opinion about reallocating the radio spectrum once it has been reclaimed from the operator.

On the web: Instaphone - The Mobile World - Pakistan Telecommunication Authority

Posted to the site on 16th April 2009