The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has started issuing Long Distance International (LDI) licenses after a gap of over eight years.
After resuming LDI Licensing in January this year, it granted the first license to Cyber Internet Services Pvt. Limited.
According to the PTA, an LDI license has been issued to Cyber Internet Services after the fulfillment of all the legal requirements, and its name has also been included in the list of LDI operators. The company has submitted a $0.5 million license fee and $10 million bank guarantees for the laying of a 1,500 km optical fiber cable.
New License has enhanced Roll Out obligations concerning Optical Fiber Network and Quality of Service Standards. This will pave the way for the absorption of futuristic technologies, not only in the main cities but in major towns and small cities, a PTA official said.
The Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Bodies (CCRB) had imposed a watch hold on the issuance of Mobile, Local Loop (LL), and LDI licenses for seven years in March 2006. The watch hold expired on 22 March 2013, and resultantly, an LDI license was issued to China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak). After issuing a license to CMPak, the issuance of the LDI license was suspended
The number of LDI operators has increased to 17 after the issuance of licenses for cyber internet services.
Previously, 16 LDI operators were providing LDI services in Pakistan, including the incumbent operators Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC). The majority of LDI operators are mainly focusing on the termination of international incoming traffic based on leased transmission facilities.