Pakistan Telecommunication Authority curbs illegal telecom business

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ISLAMABAD — The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) recently unearthed a network of illegal international gateway exchanges in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, PTA Chairman Dr Mohammed Yaseen said in an interview on Aug. 1.

PTA has detected 16 illegal telephone exchange scams during the last five months that cost the National Exchequer millions of U.S. dollars in lost revenue. Out of these, eight were in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, four in Karachi, three in Lahore and one in Peshawar. All were taken down with FIA assistance.

“Some people had obtained Global System for Mobile communication [GSM] subscriber identity modules [SIMs] in bulk from different mobile franchises and used them to form illegal international gateway exchanges,” said FIA's Punjab Director Azam Joiya.

According to FIA and PTA, some individuals or firms in foreign countries are also selling overseas phone cards at below-market rates, and are making payoffs to run their illegal businesses in Pakistan.

“The recent successful raids on illegal telecom operators have brought into focus the menace of ‘grey trafficking’ the country faces,” said Yaseen.

He explained that unlicenced telecom operations severely affect government revenues and the business of legitimate long distance international and local loop operators.

“Administrative measures alone would not overcome the problem since high economic incentives are available for this unlawful business. The PTA has therefore decided to initiate other ways of stopping this crime with the help of the public and by reducing the call rates,” Yaseen added. PTA also began a campaign in the press to root out this illegal business.