How come Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) can call the
service “un-regulated and optional”, I ask Mr. Dogar that the whole
industry is going to rely on this very basic service in the future and
I remind him of Mobile Banking and the services like EasyPaisa which
are not possible without SMS. If the SMS service is un-regulated then
I doubt the whole banking and transaction system that operator is
talking about going to be implemented in Pakistan will be “un-
regulated.........
Recently, Number of national newspaper published this news that
certain mobile phone companies including have stopped their Bundle SMS
offer on the occasion of Eid ul Adha.
After the media reports PTA conducted a meeting with all the
operators. The meeting was conducted and headed by Mr. Talib Dogar, DG
PTA and it was attended by representatives of the operators. According
to sources, Mr. Dogar was worried about media reports and authority
wanted to clear itself due to very same reason. From the Telenor it
was told that company was not stopping any sort of SMS offer whereas
Mobilink’s representative expressed his views by stating that the
company could stop and start any offer/package as per its own
decision. At the end of this meeting PTA asked the operators to the
following;
* Ensure quality of their services during Eid and other such
occasions
* Inform their subscribers adequately about withdrawal of any
packages and SMS bundle offers prior to their suspension
* Operators shall intimate the Authority well in advance whether
the SMS bundle package has been withdrawn during the occasions such as
Eids/New year etc
* Inclusion of adequate information in media campaign with regard
to validity period of the SMS bundle package offer
As we are writing these lines it is still mentioned on the Telenor’s
website that “All Bundle/Discount/Bonus Offer subscriptions shall not
be valid for Special Occasions. Special Occasions include 6 Days of
Eid ul Fitr and Eid Ul Adha along with their respective Chand Raats
and 1 day of New Year”.
But official correspondence with Telenor’s spokesman confirms that all
kind of bundle offers including Stand Alone SMS package and Voice+SMS
will be active on Eid ul Adha. As per their response through email
“Telenor Pakistan is continuing its SMS bundle offer on Eid ul Adha
that includes Stand alone as well as voice package”.
Mobilink media representative was not available to respond. When
called at Mobilink’s call center, it was told that Mobilink is
stopping it’s per day SMS bundle offer on Eid ul Adha which will be
resumed after December 2, 2009 whereas, Voice+SMS is still available.
In above mentioned meeting it was directed by authority that operator
will issue adverts to let the consumer know about suspension of any
service. So far there is not public notice from the Mobilink. All the
other operators are continuing their SMS packages on the coming Eid.
In its press release authority says, “Value-added services offered by
mobile operators such as SMS are un-regulated services in terms of
pricing and validity. Further, the bundled packages are optional
services offered by the operators which require consumers to opt-in
and agreeing to the terms and conditions offered by the operators.
Since SMS bundle packages are not mandatory packages, PTA is only
regulating quality of services whereby the operators are required to
conform to the quality parameters as per the license terms and
conditions“
There seems to be a big confusion and lack of understanding on
everyone’s end. Operators find it its own right to decide what to stop
and what to start and authority declares this very basic service as
“un-regulated and optional”. After the cut throat competition in the
industry, lucrative SMS packages turned out to be a major reason for
the fresh sales which the companies are offering. Existing customers
in the prepaid category are also choosing to remain onboard on the
basis of bundle offers, especially the youth. The question is, how can
a seller decide himself to deprive the buyer of anything later that
was actually a charm at the time of sale and without any notice?
On the occasions like Eid, consumers rely mostly on SMS packages to
send their wishes to loved ones. The service is like a “Dear Virtual
Friend” to a customer which is available to convey or transfer the
sentiments and wishes among people. But what if the friend goes away
at the time of need? Isn’t it a deception without any notice? On what
grounds a communication service is started, I think the purpose is to
help people communicate when they need OR is it when the service
provider allow?
Secondly, how come PTA can call the service “un-regulated and
optional”, I ask Mr. Dogar that the whole industry is going to rely on
this very basic service in the future and I remind him of Mobile
Banking and the services like EasyPaisa which are not possible without
SMS. If the SMS service is un-regulated then I doubt the whole banking
and transaction system that operator is talking about will and going
to be implemented in Pakistan will be “un-regulated”. How people are
going to believe on the authority and its action becomes a real
concern.
We tried to get the version of PTA by calling Mr. Talib Dogar but he
refused to give any comment on the issue of consumer rights and asked
us to wait for the call from PR person, which we are still waiting.
Authority says, it took serious notice when certain operators stopped
the SMS service at the time of Eid ul Fitr after several customers
complained about this and it was published in the media as well. The
results of PTA’s actions are still not made public and the practice
continues.
PTA also declares that “it is only regulating quality of services”. I
think they forgot to mention that pricing and fair competition is also
its responsibility besides dozens of others. If it is the case, then,
it shouldn’t be worried about the illegal sales of SIMs because that
doesn’t involve the quality of services. One may also ask how many
“quality of service (QoS) surveys PTA has conducted so far during the
past 10 years. Isn’t it ridiculous that the top most authority tries
to avoid the reality?
Telenor had planned to stop the service but changed its mind just
today after the media reports and PTA’s resultant meeting. We are
still waiting a public notice or an advert from the Mobilink.
Source:
http://www.apnatime.com/?p=2490