LAHORE – The Lahore High Court has directed the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to take action against unwarranted promotional text messages and calls.
Justice Shahid Jamil Khan heard a petition by a citizen on Friday about spam text messages and calls by various companies for the promotion of their businesses without the consent of users.
During the hearing, PTA Communication Director Muhammad Shafique appeared before the bench but failed to come up with satisfactory answers, drawing the ire of the judge.
Justice Khan observed that mobile phone users frequently complained about receiving promotional text messages from water tank cleaning service providers daily from multiple numbers.
Upon this, the PTA officer stated that there was no mechanism to control such text messages.
However, the judge remarked that the PTA could take action against the mobile numbers used for sending unnecessary promotional text messages and calls.
The petitioner’s counsel said the PTA being a regulatory body should be directed to ban such promotional activities on mobile phones.
After hearing the arguments, Justice Khan adjourned hearing till July 19 and hinted at summoning the PTA chairman if an action was not taken on the complaints.
