The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has hinted at making off-net calls even cheaper by reviewing the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR).
According to the official document, PTA will review the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) as it is considering making off-net calls even cheaper. The MTR plays an essential role in protecting smaller players and automatically rationalizing retail tariffs, particularly for off-net calls.
The MTR or mobile termination rate is the amount that the receiving cellular operator must charge when a call is made to another network.
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The changing market structure of the cellular mobile segment in Pakistan has necessitated a review of the existing MTR at the rate of 90 paisas per minute. In 2010, PTA determined an MTR of 90 paisa per minute and no operator was allowed to charge less than it.
Moreover, PTA reduced the MTR after an extensive discussion. MTR reduced for all types of calls, whether that is local, international, or long distanced, terminated on mobile networks from other mobile networks or fixed networks from 90 paisas to 80 paisas from 1 January 2019 and further reduced it to 70 paisas in 2020.
However, the mobile operators called for a reduction in the MTR due to the prevent industry dynamics. The documents further revealed that the MTR would be assessed in line with international best practices, also all stakeholders have been asked for their input for a revision. Now is being hoped that the revised MTR would help lower tariffs for the consumers.
The document also revealed that the PTA regularly checks and verifies whether Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are charging their consumer’s retail tariffs according to the advertised rates.
