ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday ordered Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to decide license application of Nayatel for Azad Jammu & Kashmir within 120 days.
The court order directed PTA to expedite the matter and decide Nayatel’s application within four months.
Nayatel had approached IHC with a plea that its license application for the provision of fiber broadband in AJK is with PTA for more than a year, but the decision is still pending at the authority’s end.
Nayatel had adopted that as per the Telecom Rules 2000, any application for a telecom license must be decided within 120 days, however, its application is yet not decided, citing some security clearance.
PTA, in response to the petition, submitted that due to security concerns, Nayatel had approached the relevant agency for clearance which is still not responded.
Nayatel said that the Government of AJK issued right of way (ROW) permission to the operator, which was subsequently withdrawn, and a new permission was issued in which Nayatel was asked to get a NOC from Special Communication Organization (SCO), a government owned organization under the Ministry of IT & Telecom providing telecom services in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Nayatel alleged that in order to protect the business interests of SCO, PTA deliberately delayed the issuance of the license which was required under Pakistan Telecommunication Rules, 2000 to be decided in 120 days.
