Introduction

PTCL

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) was founded in 1947 and is the national
telecommunication company of Pakistan. Despite the advent of so many telecom companies in
Pakistan, PTCL hasn’t lost its importance and is considered to be the backbone of country’s telecom
infrastructure. It provides internet and telephone services across the country and has over 2000
telephone exchanges. Since its conception, PTCL has been a state-owned corporation, but in 2006,
Etisalat Communication bought 26% of the shares, however, the 62% of shares still remain under the
management of government-ownership of state-owned corporations of Pakistan. The remaining
12% of shares and control were sold to the general public under privatization program initiated by
then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shaukat Aziz.

PTCL had been considered a telecom giant in Asia for many years, but research shows that revenues
of the corporation started declining after the first year of privatization.

History of PTCL

PAKISTAN POST AND TELEGRAPH

Pakistan post and telegraph (P&T), a single department, used to manage the telecommunication
services after the independence in 1947. In the beginning, there were only 12,346 telephone lines
and 7 telegraph offices all over Pakistan. All the telephone service at that time was manual. This
department continued its business up until 1962. The government of Pakistan adopted “the
telegraph act, 1885” to control and direct the activities of telecommunication.

PAKISTAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH (PT&T)

When Ayyub Khan’s government decided to split up the (PT&T) department into two separate
departments in 1962; Pakistan post and Pakistan telephone & telegraph (PT&T), under the
presidential ordinance, that was the first step towards refinement in telecommunication sector. The
PT&T department was headed by director general. The director general had complete autonomy in
decision-making, but the responsibilities were given to general managers and chief engineers. The
general managers were to report directly to the director general. Due to the centralized structure of
PT&T, delay in implementation of decisions and inefficiency in operations was caused.

PAKISTAN TELECOMMUNICATION CORPORATION (PTC)

Pakistan’s economic structure went through a series of changes during the 1990s. The deregulation
and liberalization policy in production and service industry was adopted by the government of
Pakistan. Privatization and deregulation of many of the departments of government of Pakistan was
the major change that was observed. The objective was to reduce the burden of the government
minimize the bureaucratic influence and improve the efficiency of these departments. With the
gradual deregulation and privatization, a major breakthrough in the history of telecommunication in
the country occurred, and in the first stage Pakistan telephone and telegraph department (PT&T)
was converted into a statutory corporation Pakistan telecommunication corporation (PTC) with a
legal identity separate from the government. This change in the statute introduced by the
government of Pakistan enabled PTC to move from administrative to contractual relationship with its
customer. It provided an immense opportunity for the development of telecommunications facilities
and also enhanced customer satisfaction. Working under the “PTCL act no. 111 of 1991”, the
corporation was responsible for the development, management and activity of telecommunications
services (telephone, telex, fax and data transmission) within the region and establishment of
international link with all member countries of ITU (international telecommunication union).

In 1995, Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Ordinance formed the basis for PTCL
monopoly over basic telephony in the country. The provisions of the Ordinance were lent
permanence in October 1996 through Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganization) Act. The same
year, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited was formed and listed on all stock exchanges of
Pakistan.

In 2001, PTCL launched its mobile and data services subsidiaries, Ufone and PakNet respectively.
Unfortunately, none of the brands made it to the top slots. The PakNet name has largely collapsed
over time. The DSL services provided by PTCL illustrate this with the introduction of a new brand
name and the running of the company being closely controlled by PTCL.