The non-renewal of licenses of Long Distance and International (LDI) Companies is expected to disrupt 50 percent of mobile traffic, service quality and business operations in the Country.
According to a document presented before the Parliament, several mobile towers will be out of service, 10 percent of internet traffic will be disrupted, and 40 percent of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in the Country are likely to stop working due to business operations being affected.
The non-renewal of licenses of LDI Companies may affect global traffic to Pakistan and shifting of service to other operators may disrupt global communication.
It should be noted that there is a dispute between the Telecom Companies and the Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication over the issue of arrears.
Even the Steering Committee of the IT Ministry could not decide the formula for recovery of arrears.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has made payment of arrears a condition for license renewal.
Licenses of three to four LDI Companies have expired while licenses of some LDI companies will expire in the coming months; however, the Companies have approached the Court to continue their services.