Unannounced levy on PTCL broadband

Letter September 18, 2011
There was now a 50 GB cap on my package and that if I went over I would be charged Rs1,000.

KARACHI: I am a PTCL broadband subscriber and I am paying Rs1,999 every month for a 4MB connection. I noticed in my bill for August that instead of being charged this amount I was asked to pay an addition one thousand rupees. When I checked with PTCL I was told that from August 1, 2011, onwards, there was now a 50 GB cap on my package and that if I went over I would be charged Rs1,000. I asked that since this wasn’t advertised how would subscribers be expected to know of this in advance? And if Rs1,000 was being levied now, what’s to stop PTCL from raising the amount in future?

I  wonder what the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is doing in all of this? How did it allow PTCL to levy this additional charge in what is clearly an underhand manner? At the very least, subscribers should be told of this well in advance. Even the website currently says all packages have “unlimited download”. This can be checked at http://www.ptcl.com.pk/related_pages.php?pd_id=111&rp_id=118.

Jibran Syed

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th,  2011.