Telenor in the hot water again while PTA completes SCN procedure

Last Updated: July 21, 2023

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Telenor Pakistan is in hot water again. The telecom operator witnessed a financial downturn and there were rumors that the PTCL group is going to buy large shares of Telenor Pakistan. According to a source, the national telecom regulator recently closed the Show Cause Notice (SCN) hearing against the telecom operator over substandard network services in Chitral. In this regard, a spokesperson for Telenor said while speaking to a media outlet:

Unfortunately, difficult terrain, unreliable power availability and limited transmission media and import restrictions by the state bank have significantly affected our services. Chitral is a very important market for Telenor Pakistan as we are one of the first operators to bring connectivity to the region. We want to assure our customers that we are actively working with PTA to resolve these challenges as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, according to a credible source, the national telecom regulator has already taken legal action against the operator. This legal action was initiated under the provision of the Telecom Act 1996 and therefore a Show Cause Notice (SCN) was issued to Telenor on March 10, 2023.

According to MoiTT’s details, Telenor provided a reply from SCN to PTA on April 10, 2023. Subsequently, the SCN hearing took place before the PTA on June 5, 2023. The national telecom regulator is now in the process of issuing a subpoena to Telenor.

Moreover, it is pertinent to mention here that a joint study has also been conducted with Telenor in the Chitral area. After hard and soft optimization, all key performance indicators (KPIs) were found within the licensed threshold, except for 4G data throughput. In addition, an independent verification investigation was conducted at various locations in Chitral between February 27 and March 2.

During the investigation, Telenor failed to meet the permit threshold at all five locations. Therefore, the authority has decided to start legal proceedings against the operator. On the other hand, the same survey noted that the network services of Jazz, the second largest operator in the region, had improved significantly.