The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is preparing to introduce application and processing administrative fees for the processing and issuance of Certificates of Compliance (CoC), as well as reviewing the current fee structure for Type Approval to address regulatory expenses.
Presently, PTA does not charge any application or processing administrative fees for the processing and issuance of CoC. However, the Authority has emphasized the necessity of imposing such fees to cover regulatory expenses, including costs associated with human resources, paperwork handling, CoC dispatching, correspondence with various entities, payment of GSMA TAC database subscription fees, and administrative expenses related to the operation and maintenance of the DIRBS platform.
Following requests from Mobile Device Manufacturers (MDMs) via letters from the Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturing Association (PMPMA) dated April 22, 2024, PTA convened a consultation session with MDMs on May 14, 2024. Subsequently, updates were made to section 3 of the consultation paper.
The main cases processed by the Type Approval Directorate for CoC issuance include Commercial CoC for SIM/IMEI-based devices already Type Approved and imported in Completely Built Unit (CBU) form by commercial importers, CoC for mobile phones imported by Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization holders for manufacturing in Pakistan, CoC for finished mobile phones manufactured by MDMs, CoC for individual category mobile phone registration, and CoC for non-SIM-based terminal/telecom equipment.
The application processing administrative fee will be applicable to commercial CBUs, non-SIM-based terminal/telecom equipment, and commercial CoCs for MDM SKD/CKD parts applications submitted to PTA. The fee for commercial CBUs will be a fixed amount of Rs. 5,000, and for commercial non-SIM terminal/telecom equipment, it will be Rs. 2,500.
For MDM parts import, an application fee of Rs. 70,000 will be charged for every 1,000 devices. Additionally, if the number of devices exceeds 1,000, an additional fee of Rs. 70,000 will be charged for each subsequent lot of 1,000 devices.
The revised fee structure includes separate non-refundable application processing fees and Type Approval certificate fees. The current processing fee of $100 will be revised to $200, the Type Approval certificate fee of $100 will also be revised to $200, and for Short Range Devices (SRD) & Terrestrial Internet of Things (IoT) Services, the processing fee of $50 and certificate fee of $50 will each be revised to $100.
Under regulations 23(h) and 23(l) of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (Functions & Powers) Regulations, 2006, the Authority has the power to levy and charge fees for Type Approval and other authorizations granted under the Act, as well as for administrative functions specified by the Authority.
