Zong Serves PTA a Rs600bn notice for Damages

Zong China Mobile Pakistan Limited (CMPak) has served the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) with a notice claiming Rs. 600 billion for damages suffered by the telecom company due to disturbed radio frequency band that it obtained from PTA.

This notice was issued in response to the recent fine that PTA imposed on the Zong for unauthorized and illegal use of radio frequencies. PTA ordered Zong to immediately stop using these frequencies and pay for the period of unauthorized use at a rate of US$29.5 Million per MHz for 15 years, including late payment additional fee as per applicable law.

The telecom company claimed that it faced issues with the radio frequency band issued by PTA for many years leading to revenue losses for Zong. The company also explained that a disturbed radio frequency band negatively impacted its customer band, reducing it significantly especially in areas with poor quality of radio frequencies.

The PTA-allocated interfered spectrum also made it difficult for the company to compete with other network operators, who had radio bands without interferences.

The company expressed its disappointment with PTA, claiming that instead of resolving this issue for Zong, who has made significant investments worth more than $2 billion in the region to overcome these issues, PTA had served them with a heavy fine.