Ufone's operator takes PTA to court over order to halt its ONIC digital brand
PTML says ONIC is a brand under its own mobile licence. The regulator says the way it is run makes it a virtual network operator that needs a licence of its own.
Pakistan Telecommunication Mobile Limited (PTML), the PTCL group company that runs Ufone, has gone to court against an order from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) that stops it selling its app based digital service, ONIC. The case, reported on 9 October, will decide whether a mobile operator can run a separately branded digital arm under its existing licence or must hold a virtual network operator (MVNO) licence for it.
The PTA's eight page order, reported on 15 September, told PTML to stop issuing new ONIC SIMs and eSIMs, to stop activations and new subscriptions, and to end related marketing. Existing ONIC customers must move to PTML within three months, and PTML had seven working days to file a compliance report.
Why the PTA calls it an MVNO
ONIC runs on PTML's network, spectrum and numbers. But the regulator pointed to its own packages, separate customer management and billing systems, a dedicated app and its own customer care. Together, the PTA concluded, these match the commercial structure of an MVNO under the 2025 policy framework.
A separate company, Digital Technology Management Services (DTMS), handles ONIC's marketing, customer acquisition, identity checks, SIM logistics, sales and support. Under its agreement with PTML, DTMS receives 55 percent of the relevant revenue during the first three years, after which its share falls on an agreed schedule. The PTA raised concerns about subscriber data, call records, lawful interception, data localisation, SIM issuance, billing, service quality, number portability and third party arrangements.
The order gives PTML two ways out. It can run ONIC fully as a PTML product under its existing licence, after removing the features that make it work like a separate operator. Or it can obtain an MVNO licence and keep the current structure.
PTML's case
PTML argues that ONIC is neither an independent telecom operator nor an MVNO. It calls the DTMS contract an outsourcing and managed services arrangement, and says subscribers, numbering, spectrum and final regulatory responsibility stay with PTML. The PTA rejected that reading, finding that the substance of the arrangements falls under the MVNO framework. ONIC said after the order that its services would continue without disruption and that customers could keep using them.
A dispute since 2023
PTML told the PTA in June 2023 that it planned to launch ONIC in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. In August 2023 the PTA directed it not to launch until it had supplied complete information, saying consumers could be confused about ONIC's relationship with a licensed cellular operator. PTML challenged that direction in the Islamabad High Court, which in February 2026 converted the petition into a representation and sent the matter back to the PTA for a reasoned decision. The September order is that decision. The new challenge is the second time the dispute has reached a court.
