First annual instalment of licences: PTA receives Rs166m from Telenor, Ufone

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received Rs166 million (equivalent to $0.744 million) against the first annual instalment of AJ&K and GB NGMS licences from Telenor Pakistan Limited (Rs154 million) and Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) (Rs12 million) in line with payment terms of respective licences.

The PTA has also received Rs1.88 billion (equivalent to $8.76 million) from CMPak Limited (Zong) in August 2022 on account of upfront 50 percent of renewal fee of its license renewed in the year 2022.

The PTA has so far received Rs9.57 billion (equivalent to $54.66 million) against cellular mobile license renewals and spectrum auction in AJ&K and GB since 2021.

The PTA on Monday received Rs11.43 billion (equivalent to $52.44 million) against third annual instalment of license renewal fee from CMPak Limited (Zong) for Pakistan in line with payment terms of the license renewed in the year 2019.

The amount has also been deposited in Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF). With this deposit in FCF, the cumulative deposit by PTA in FCF during the current financial year i.e. 2022-23 has reached Rs22.98 billion (equivalent to $106 million).

The PTA has so far deposited $1.79 billion in equivalent to Rs300 billion in FCF, received from cellular mobile license renewals and spectrum auction since 2019.

The government has budgeted Rs50 billion for 3G/4G license renewal as well as 5G under the head of non-tax revenue for the current fiscal year 2022-23 against Rs45.43 billion budgeted for the last fiscal year which was later revised to Rs100 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022