ISLAMABAD: Owner of Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL), Etisalat cautioned the government of Pakistan (GoP) from granting Special Communication Organization (SCO) a licence to operate on a commercial basis across the country.
Etisalat has threatened to take the issue to an international court in case if SCO is granted a licence and allowed to operate on a commercial basis across Pakistan.
The company has informed Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) that as per the agreement, no government-backed operator would be permitted to operate and compete, reported a local technology blog.
In case the government permits SCO to operate across Pakistan, this would be treated as a violation of the agreement and Etisalat has the right to take the matter into an international court to resolve the problem.
Earlier, in August SCO which manages and operates telecom services in the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir request of operating commercially throughout Pakistan was rejected outright.
SCO had been demanding a free licence to run its services across the country since last two years, was rejected on the basis that complete freedom to operate and compete against major cellular providers would hamper economic growth and affect the telecom sector on a whole. Millions of dollars of investment would also be put in jeopardy across the telecom sector, said the IT ministry.
SCO operates under the Ministry of Information and Technology and is a public-sector entity which started operations in 1976.
A senate subcommittee on Delegated Legislation had been formed for resolving all deadlocks between SCO and IT ministry, which included making changes in the Telecommunication Reorganization Act 1996, which would have allowed the former to expand its outreach and operations across the country.
SCO had also requested the government for tax exemption on its income, assets, turnover and sales and customs duties on its imports and exports and all finances be given by them too.
