The End Of BrainTel LDI - You Will Be Missed

orignal from:
http://telecompk.net/2009/02/18/the-end-of-braintel-ldi-you-will-be-missed/


The End Of BrainTel LDI - You Will Be Missed

Published by Babar Bhatti on February 18, 2009 09:30 pm under Business, Companies, Government Regulations, PTA, Telecommunications
BrainTel LDI license has been suspended by PTA. Is this the final chapter in the short but adventurous life of the famous 210-nnnn series?
A few years ago someone in Lahore showed me how they could dial a local number (210-nnnn) from Lahore and connect directly to U.S. After a bit of investigation I also signed up for the service. It wasn’t a very consistent or reliable service but having a local number was very convenient. And when it worked, the VOIP technology was absolutely wonderful and very affordable. Soon this service came under the radar and many times it came to the brink of being closed. This time it seems that it is gone for good. It was fun while it lasted.
The dispute between PTA and Braintel (as described in the pdf document) can be the topic of many posts and shows the internal strifes of the LDI industry. Braintel has some bitter complaints agains the ‘cartel’ and how the price of calls to Pakistan are set up.
Here’s one excerpt which shows the point of view of “The Authority”.
The Authority, through the Traffic Monitoring Facility installed for the purpose, noted that (i) it has during the period from 14th May, 2008 to 30th June, 2008, unauthorizedly originated 450,814 international telephony minutes (accounting for 65,482 international telephony calls) and terminated those minutes in different countries through IP address 119.63.130.98 by using SIP over non-standard port 8891 (ii) from 14th May, 2008 to 30th June, 2008 it has also unauthorizedly terminated 2,442,779 international telephony minutes (accounting for 339,917 international telephony calls) in Pakistan through IP address 119.63.130.98 by using SIP over non-standard port 8891 and (iii) the licensee has been using its locally allocated numbers for the Lahore Region (N/S) outside Pakistan by misusing Direct Inward Dialing technique and by mapping its numbers against IP addresses, hence, these numbers are being used globally and more than 50,000 customers of the licencee are usingthese numbers in around 77 countries.