Jazz Moves to Court as Licence Renewal Drags Weeks Ahead of Expiration

The nation’s leading English daily, Dawn, covered Jazz’s decision to move the Islamabad High Court with regards to the ongoing license renewal issue. As per the story, Telenor and Jazz were issued licenses through an auction in 2004, both of which need to be renewed after 15 years.

According to a source, the license stipulates that the telecom operator is entitled to renew it at the same dollar price at which it was acquired. The license also requires the renewal process to have been initiated almost 27 months ago, according to the same source, but the management of both Jazz and Telenor have been unable to get a response from the government.

Dawn has learned that the government is considering a sum of $450m for the renewal, though this demand has not been formally communicated to Jazz. The figure apparently has been calculated using the spectrum auctions that happened in 2016 and 2017 as a benchmark.

The case filed in the Islamabad High Court asks to now clarify the terms on which the license renewal should take place, keeping in mind the legal obligations on both sides contained in the license agreement.