KARACHI: Director (Enforcement) of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Syed Akhlaq Hussain Musavi has advised representatives of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and Karachi Electronic Dealers Association (KEDA) to give suggestions on various policies affecting the local businesses and also compile recommendations on how to improve the process of Type Approval Certification of imported mobile phones so that it could be simplified to facilitate the traders.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Director (Enforcement) said that PTA, being a regulatory body, was not authorised to devise policies but was only responsible to ensure implementation of various policies and regulations being formulated by the Ministry of Information Technology. However, keeping in view the hardships being faced by mobile phone traders of Karachi, he assured that all their suggestions for simplifying complex policies would be forwarded to the Ministry with necessary amendments, if required, in order to provide some relief to traders.
Assistant Director (Enforcement) PTA, Zeeshan Shafiq, President KCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, Senior Vice President KCCI, Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, Vice President KCCI, Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan, Former Vice President and President KEDA, Muhammad Idrees, Chairman Communication Sub-Committee, Imran Aziz, KCCI Managing Committee members and KEDA representatives attended the meeting.
The PTA Director Enforcement informed that under the Telecom Act 1996 (section 29), no terminal equipment can be directly or indirectly connected with Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) unless it has been approved by PTA. Type approval granted by PTA signifies that particular telecommunication equipment was approved for general sale and was suitable to connect with a specific public telecommunication network.
A sum of US$100 is charged as fee for Type Approval for imported equipment and so far more than 300 companies from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have acquired Type Approval Certificates for various handsets and other equipment, he added.
