Zong filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court, requesting that the license renewal process for Jazz be halted.
In its petition, Zong claimed that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Frequency Allocation Board rushed the license renewal process in order to give an unfair advantage to Jazz because Zong’s spectrum has interference, and that Zong was expecting PTA to resolve its faulty spectrum before renewing Jazz’s spectrum.
The petition stated that “PTA’s decision to renew Jazz’s spectrum on an as-is basis would hinder fair competition and put Zong at a disadvantage.”
According to Zong’s petition, Jazz’s license was due to be renewed in July 2022, but the procedure was rushed to provide Jazz an unfair competitive advantage. While accepting the petition, the Islamabad High Court served notice on the MOIT, the PTA, and the FAB.
While taking notice of Jazz’s license renewal over the course of the proceedings, the High Court ruled that the renewal of Jazz’s license based on the policy directive be subject to the petition’s final decision. Zong contends that the 1800Mhz spectrum it was given by PTA and FAB contains interference, and that it, like all other operators, needs a clean spectrum.
Zong has filed court applications claiming that PTA has treated it unfairly and that it is at a disadvantage to other operators who have access to a clear spectrum. Zong expected PTA to re-distribute spectrum in such a way that clean spectrum (from 900Mhz) is evenly allocated to all operators in the market when Jazz’s license was renewed.
Zong claims that, in light of the situation and the fact that Jazz’s license is up for renewal in July 2022, it filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court. The matter was initially scheduled for hearing on April 12, 2022, but due to a lack of time, it was rescheduled for the following day, April 13, 2022.
Jazz quickly signed their license with PTA on the evening of April 12, 2022, and deposited 50 percent of the license money far before of the license expiry date, according to Zong, in an attempt to avoid the legal proceedings. This matter was brought to the court’s attention today, and the court has ordered that the renewal of the license based on the contested policy directive be subject to the petition’s final decision.