Complaint: PTA directs Prior Consent to activate services

Aftab Ahmed

Islamabad: In a bid to address the consumers’ complaint, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has directed telecom companies of Pakistan to seek the explicit consent of consumers to activate packages.

Telecom companies have auto subscription packages which result in minting money from the consumers without their prior consent.

Now, telecom regulator-PTA has directed all telecom companies to address complaints by sending mandatory confirmation messages to their consumers to get explicit consent for opting in or activation of Value Added Services.

PTA has further directed CMOs to submit compliance reports within three weeks from the issuance of the order.

PTA had received complaints from consumers that mobile operators activate Value Added Services, including Third Party Content/games, sometimes without the prior consent of consumers.

The telecom regulator has taken serious notice of such complaints as activation of any Value Added Services without explicit consent of consumers in violation of Clause 9 (3) (vii) of “Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2009”.

PTA said that it had taken this step to provide great relief to mobile consumers and address complaints of consumers. The regulator has also expressed a commitment to protect the interests of users of telecommunication services in Pakistan.

The regulator has been receiving complaints in bulk from the consumers every month about how mobile operators were providing poor service to the consumers.

PTA had pointed out that consumers from major cities of the country like Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad had also lodged complaints of poor services. However, nobody knows how telecom operators were making money in a remote area of the country.

But they were unable to provide good services to the consumers. The majority of the consumers are illiterate in remote areas of the country. They even did not know to unsubscribe the telecom companies’ packages like Jazz, Zong, Ufone, and Telenor Pakistan.

Moreover, Mobile companies were making money through the auto-activation of packages and other services like games. They were doing without the prior consent of the consumers. This is a good step for PTA to address complaints of the consumers.