Pakistani government may stop mobile video service

By Zamir Haider
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Published: May 4, 2007, 6:00 PM PDT

 

The first cellular phone company to offer television on mobile in Pakistan faces government objections. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), which regulates radio and TV in Pakistan, has served a notice to Telenor, a Norwegian telecommunications company, that it can’t offer a mobile TV service in the country without a license. According to the news report carried by the leading English daily of Pakistan, Dawn, Telenor has already sold more than 300 TV connections.  

The controversy started after Telenor started offering the service on April 28. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority gave Telenor a license to operate a mobile phone service four years earlier, but it’s not clear whether that license covered TV. Telenor believes it does, but PEMRA disagrees. According to the Dawn report, Telenor should not have offered its mobile TV service to its subscribers without a formal license from PEMRA.