The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has clawed back PKR 495 million in penalties from Long Distance International (LDI) operators in the notorious International Clearing House (ICH) scam — with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) forced to cough up the lion’s share of PKR 458 million.
Read More: Etisalat-Owned PTCL Faces Senate Wrath Over Secretive Board of Directors
The recovery follows the Competition Appellate Tribunal’s decision upholding CCP’s ruling that exposed the ICH as an illegal, anti-competitive cartel engineered to milk consumers and crush competition.
Launched in 2012 under PTCL’s control, the ICH funneled all incoming international calls through a single gateway. Termination rates were arbitrarily jacked up to 8.8 US cents per minute — more than four times the previous rate — wiping out competition and triggering a 300 percent revenue bonanza for PTCL and its allies, all at the expense of overseas callers and ordinary Pakistanis.
CCP had originally slapped penalties amounting to 7.5 percent of each operator’s annual turnover. Though the Tribunal later watered this down to 2 percent of ICH-related revenues, it ordered all operators to deposit fines within 30 days — a clear rebuke to the telecom giants that colluded in this scheme.
CCP Chairman Dr. Kabir Sidhu minced no words, warning that the Commission will not tolerate market abuse, manipulation, or price-fixing cartels masquerading as “business arrangements.” He stressed that collusion of the kind PTCL spearheaded through the ICH will be punished ruthlessly.
The recovery may be partial, but it sends a strong message: Pakistan’s consumers will no longer be treated as cash cows for corporate greed.
