ISLAMABAD: The information commissioner has ordered the telecom regulator, the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), to submit Special Communications Organisation (SCO), the state-owned telecom company, with information regarding the telecom infrastructure provider licence (TIPL) by August 25.
The decision was made in response to an appeal Mohammad Ahmed filed against the PTA in accordance with the Right of Access to Information Act of 2017 in order to obtain information about the licences given to the SCO.
Prior to this, the PTA denied the request on the grounds that the applicant was connected to Nayatel, an internet service provider.
After hearings, Chief Information Commissioner Mohammad Azam determined that a company had the legal right to request such public information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act because the law’s goals were to increase public participation in government affairs, reduce corruption and inefficiencies, and advance economic growth and good governance.
The SCO was founded in 1976 to develop, run, and maintain all telecom services in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir under the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom.The information commission ordered the PTA to make public the minutes of its meeting in which the final decision to grant SCO a Telecommunication Infrastructure Providers License was made in 2014 as well as the specifics of the PTA’s 2019 decision.
