‘Digital Catastrophe’ In The Offing; Warn Top Telecom CEOs

Web Desk — Pakistan’s top telecom sector’s Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) have warned the government that Pakistan may soon turn into a nightmare of a ‘digital catastrophe’ in case ‘precautionary measures’ are not taken.

Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, Irfan Wahab Khan, Chief Executive Officer, Telenor Pakistan, and Hatem Bamatraf, President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, in a series of separate tweets, urged the government to disband the policy of pegging the license fees and interest on installments the US Dollar (USD).

In other words, all three tech stalwarts said that the government’s policy has become counter-productive for the telecom companies and needs to reverse it as soon as possible to power the country’s digital transformation.

Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim, in his tweet, said that the devaluation of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) has jeopardized the business case for telecom companies, as the license fees and interest on installments are pegged to the USD.

Last year, he said, a 50 percent license renewal fee cost Jazz Rs. 44.5 billion, while this year, just a 10 percent installment alone costs over Rs. 13 billion.

Telenor Pakistan CEO Irfan Wahab Khan, in a similar tweet, expressed fear that the telecom companies are exposed to massive currency devaluation risk if they are bound to pay in USD for spectrum auctions, renewal, and installments.

He asked the government to fix this mismatch before the capacity of telecom companies to further power digital transformation gets depleted.

President and Group CEO of PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf, complained that the constant devaluation of PKR against USD has increased the cost of doing business in the country.

He expressed serious doubts that the dream of a Digital Pakistan would be hard to achieve because the telecom companies are unable to invest heavily in infrastructure modernization while earning in PKR.

He said, “We must devise a strategy for regulatory relief to avoid slowing down the digital development of the country.”