PTA yet to recover over Rs40 billion from mobile phone companies

ISLAMABAD (Staff Report) - The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) still has to recover Rs41.708 billion from different mobile phone companies and telecom companies.

Audit officials also told the Senate’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday that a number of companies had winded up their business and are untraceable now.

The meeting was told that Rs34 billion were recoverable from seven operators and M/s Instaphone was the major defaulter owing Rs22 billion whereas the remaining amount of Rs7 billion was recoverable from 175 operators.

Giving details, the audit officials said that M/s Instaphone owes Rs22.13b, M/s Telecard 3.25b, M/s Worldcall Telecom Rs2.8b, M/s PTCL Rs1.71b, M/s Dencom Pakistan Rs1.65b, M/s DV Com Data Rs1.59b, and M/s Great Bear Rs714.45m.

The audit officials told the committee that the mobile operator companies owe billions of rupees of PTA and major defaulter is Instaphone which owes Rs22 billion but the company has winded up the business in Pakistan.

The PTA did not even have the profiles of the mobile operator companies, the officials further said.

It was also revealed that ex-Director General of the PTA Imran Zuberi was brought back into the country through Interpol who fled the country after alleged fraud of Rs80 million but the Lahore High Court granted him a bail.