Two years back China Mobile bought Paktel for US$460 million. That was a legitimate transaction.
Last week two Chinese nationals were arrested while the authorities busted a bypass den at Islamabad. They have been allegedly the partner of an “influential Pakistani” in this illegal venture. It claims to have caused an estimated six billion rupees (US$74 million) loss to the exchequer. The news followed by a lively debate is going on.
Meanwhile, the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) has rejected a regulatory decree to deploy necessary countermeasures to block the VoIP traffic. Their argument and a loud debate can be viewed here
Wahaj us Siraj and ISPAK are absolutely correct. ISPs can not do anything to solve this problem. The real problem is he margin between actual termination of a call and the termination rate fixed by the Regulator. APC which was supposed to diminsh within 3 years from 2004 as per Pakistan De-regulation Policy 2004, unfortunately is still there and is being raised by the Regulator.
It is unbeliveable to see whats going on in Pakistan in telecom sector. Pakistan started so well in telecom regulations, when it de-regulated the sector but now all sorts of interesting decisions are coming. Hope PTA will live upto its image.