PTA orders Zong to refund Rs2 billion to customers for unfair charges

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has directed Zong, a cellular firm, to pay its consumers a whopping Rs2 billion in service and other expenses. 

The development follows the rejection of the company’s appeal against the August 2019 order issued by the capital’s high court. The single bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), issued the order.

It all started when customers were billed Rs2,028,038,584 for service, maintenance, card, and operational fees from April 26, 2019, to July 12, 2019. The PTA ordered Zong to return this money on August 30, 2019.

Every time a consumer bought and used a prepaid card worth Rs100, cellular mobile operators like Zong would deduct Rs10, which is a significant amount.

The Supreme Court played a significant role in this case, taking suo moto notice that some of the taxes and other charges levied while topping up or recharging prepaid cards were not fair and too high.

On May 3, 2018, it passed an initial order finding that the service charges cannot have been lawfully and validly applied to the sums purchased by mobile phone consumers.

Later, on 16th October 2018, the Supreme Court amended the judgement  the judgement so that the relief of a similar nature may also be provided to the post-paid consumers of the cellular companies.

 Thus, Zong claimed that it had already dropped the 10% administrative and service fee which it was charging hitherto. However, some cell phone companies, including Zong, resumed charging after the case was settled, which led to the PTA requesting clarification from the appellant on April 29, 2019.

The appeal filed by Zong in the Islamabad High Court against the PTA’s refund order was rejected as it could not be sustained further. It also means that Zong has to pay back to the consumers Rs2 billion.

Therefore, this is a critical juncture in the case. The judgment came out as a win for consumers who were unfairly charged by Zong and thus opens up the possibility for the other cellular companies also.