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In a significant development for market oversight, the appeals filed by major telecom companies, including Jazz Pakistan, Telenor Pakistan, Zong Pakistan, Ufone, Warid Telecom, PTCL and Wi‑Tribe, have been declared “incompetent” and dismissed by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) under a ruling of the Islamabad High Court.
The court held that the CCP possesses the mandate to initiate inquiries across all sectors of the economy, including telecom, and that even regulatory authorities may fall within its oversight. The telecom firms had challenged show-cause notices issued by the CCP for alleged misleading marketing practices, including extra fees on prepaid cards and promotion of “unlimited internet” packages that concealed usage restrictions.
According to the court’s decision, which drew on a detailed CCP enquiry report into “unlimited” broadband plans, the regulator’s authority under the Competition Act, 2010 extends to review information requests and investigations into dominant market players. One case from April 2014 against Wi-Tribe flagged “unlimited internet” packaging as potentially misleading. The court reaffirmed that the CCP can investigate such matters without waiting for a specific complaint, under Section 36 of the law.
In its reasoning, the court clarified that the power of sectoral regulators does not exclude the CCP’s jurisdiction when markets witness abuse of dominance or misleading promotions. The court also emphasized that an anti-competitive inquiry need not be limited to one industry: the CCP’s mandate covers “all spheres of commercial and economic activity.”
The telecom companies had obtained stay orders on CCP notices since 2014 and argued that their listing as major operators shielded them from long-running probes. But the High Court’s latest ruling removes procedural barriers and allows the CCP to proceed with show-cause notices against these operators without further delay.
For consumers, the ruling signals stronger potential for accountability in telecom pricing, usage terms and promotional claims. For the industry, it marks a departure from decades-long inertia in enforcement of competition law in Pakistan’s telecom sector.
