With the arrival of the new Reference of Interconnect by PTA for PTCL, not much relief came to the operators except one bomb shell! The new RIO 2008 has introduced an additional interconnect charge of Rs. 1.25 per message originating from operators network utilizing PTCL network. The operator will pay PTCL this new charges for all their outgoing international sms, which means that operators will either take the hit themselves or will pass it on to the subscribers. In case they decided to pass it on to the subscribers, then soon we will hear an upward revision in the rate of international sms in Pakistan.
Currently all the operators except Ufone are charging around Rs. 6 per international sms. Ufone is the only operator charging just Rs. 1.5 per international sms to its users. The reason that the sms of Ufone is cheaper then other networks is not because Ufone is getting any subsidy from the PTCL or government rather Ufone is taking the hit itself by subsidizing the service for its users. I wonder if other operators will follow suit and take this new price hit by themselves or they will pass it to the customers?
Moreover, the new RIO 2008 also introduce another charge of pre conversation signaling for international roaming subscribers. The operators will be charged Rs. 0.03 for pre conversation signaling by PTCL for using its international gateway. This charge is nominal and hence i am sure all the telecom operators won't pass it on to the users but they will pay it to the PTCL.
The detailed RIO can be found on the website of the PTA on the main page or under the heading of Interconnection
