ISLAMABAD – A complaint over nearly 400 corporate SIMs has now turned into Rs389 million regulatory setback for Jazz, with PTA finding serious gaps in their verification, activation and monitoring.
The case started after the company discovered SIMs issued in its name without approval, followed by a recovery notice for more than Rs626,000 in dues. Pakistan’s telecom regulator dealt a major financial blow to Jazz, imposing a hefty Rs389 million fine over alleged regulatory violations.
The telecom regulator took action after Target Marketing (Private) Limited lodged complaint alleging that nearly 400 corporate SIMs were issued in the company’s name without its request, approval, consent or authorization.
The controversy continues when the complainant received recovery notice from a third-party agency demanding more than Rs626,360 in outstanding dues allegedly linked to the SIMs.
Target Marketing maintained that the SIMs had remained active for a prolonged period without the company’s knowledge or approval, raising serious questions over the verification and monitoring procedures followed during their issuance and subsequent use.
After complaint, PTA sought records from Jazz to determine how the SIMs were issued and verified. However, the regulator said the material submitted by Jazz was incomplete and failed to include mandatory corporate authorizations and end-user credentials.
Jazz provided an NTN certificate, an old business agreement, contact details of a representative and a list of the 400 SIMs. PTA, however, found the documentation insufficient to establish that the users of the corporate SIMs had been properly verified and identified in accordance with regulatory requirements.
The regulator made it clear that telecom operators cannot simply shift responsibility for SIM verification and monitoring to corporate customers, franchises, sales channels or authorized representatives.
According to the PTA, an operator’s responsibility does not end once a corporate SIM is issued. The operator remains responsible for ensuring proper verification, activation, monitoring and traceability of the end users. The authority also rejected Jazz’s stance that the dispute was essentially a matter of billing or a commercial disagreement.
PTA ruled that the case went beyond a billing dispute and involved alleged non-compliance with mandatory regulatory requirements governing the issuance, verification and post-issuance monitoring of corporate SIMs.
After examining the complaint and records, the regulator concluded that Jazz had failed to ensure compliance with the relevant Subscriber Regulations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering corporate SIM issuance, verification, activation and monitoring.
PTA has now ordered Jazz to pay the Rs389 million penalty within 30 days. Failure to deposit the fine within the stipulated period could trigger further legal action under the applicable law, adding another serious regulatory setback for the telecom operator.
Jazz under Fire as PTA receives Record 1,619 complaints against telecom operator
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