Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) facilitates the Telecom services providers in Pakistan in many ways. This facilitation includes making available regulatory frameworks and the specific regulations to allow different types of telecom players to operate towards the betterment of customer experience and services proliferation throughout the country.
As part of drafting and making these regulations available, a key telecom operators segment consists of players who provide internet services in various forms towards the various segments e.g. to wholesale clients, corporate segment, educational segment and to the good old consumer segment. We have been receiving the below questions very frequently from the internet services providers and thought that it was best to clarify for our valued readers:
What licenses/approvals from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) are applicable on the internet services providers?
What is the difference between Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Class Value Added Services License (PTA CVAS License) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Local Loop License (PTA Local Loop License) and under which circumstances these licenses are required?
Answering the first question above, simply put, the internet services providers in Pakistan require any one of the below licenses depending on the scope and structure of their operations and services:
Class Value Added Services License - Data (PTA CVAS License)
PTA Local Loop License
We have explored the process and the requirements to apply for both of the above licenses in various separate articles on our blog (www.nanotechsol.com/blog) so we will not cover those details here. Coming to the second question above, here is how you should decide which license you need for your internet services business:
If your internet services provider business requires you to provide the services without laying out any extensive infrastructure then only Class Value Added Services – Data License (PTA CVAS License) is sufficient for your business.
If your internet services provider business requires you to layout infrastructure for the provision of internet services or if it is a strategic direction of your business to use this infrastructure for competitive differentiation and enhanced customer service e.g. fiber optics infrastructure, GPON etc. then you will require Local Loop License from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as well (PTA Local Loop license). In-case of your infrastructure layer providing wired or wireless connectivity, you will respectively require Fixed Line Local Loop or Wireless Local Loop License
It is important to understand that if you only have the Local Loop license then you do not need Class Value Added Services License - Data (PTA CVAS License) because PTA Local Loop License allows you to also provide the services to end customer along with having the license to layout any required infrastructure.
We hope that we have been able to precisely explain the difference between the two license types i.e. PTA CVAS License and PTA Local Loop License and have also been able to explain the context under which either of these licenses is required. For an obligation free assessment of your licensing requirements in-line with your business model, please feel free to contact us at info@nanotechsol.com.