NEW DELHI, India—A member of the Pakistani cabinet has questioned the award of a GSM license to Paktel, a subsidiary of Millicom International, by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). The license was granted earlier this year.
Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman, minister for science and technology, has raised questions on the transparency of the deal, according to a report in the Karachi-based newspaper Business Recorder. The minister has pointed out that granting the GSM license to Paktel would imply giving a license to a party owning Instaphone and Paktel together, which “may not be appropriate.” Millicom has stakes in both the companies.
Allocation of frequency falls in the domain of the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and not PTA, Dr. Rehman said. “It is not clear in what capacity PTA could sign an agreement with Paktel for allocation of frequency bands without the approval of FAB. On the technical plan, there are many open-ended issues, which also seemed to have been overlooked.”
