ISLAMABAD, Nov 10 : The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has recovered a further Rs. 19 million from Multinet (Pvt.) Limited and Rs. 1.4 million from Voice Communications in the International Clearing House (ICH) case, taking the total recoveries to Rs. 772 million. The CCP continues its efforts to ensure full recovery of penalties imposed on telecom companies involved in the cartel.
The penalties were originally imposed after the CCP found that all fourteen Long Distance International (LDI) operators had formed a cartel under the ICH arrangement in 2012, effectively eliminating competition in the international telephony market. The ICH setup had required all incoming international calls to be routed through a single gateway managed by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), leading to fixed high call termination rates and reduced market efficiency.
The Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) later upheld CCP’s findings of cartelization and abuse of dominance, while adjusting the penalty to two percent of the revenues earned through the ICH arrangement. Following the Tribunal’s decision, CCP initiated recovery proceedings against the operators.
Some companies have challenged the CAT decision before the Supreme Court of Pakistan; however, there is no restraining order, and the CCP continues to recover penalties as per law.
