Audit report reveals Jazz overcharged subscribers by Rs6.58 billion in FY24

ISLAMABAD (RNN TV) – The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has revealed that Jazz, one of the country’s largest telecom operators, overcharged its subscribers by more than Rs6.58 billion during the financial year 2023-24, in violation of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) approved tariff rates.

According to the audit report published on Monday, a comparative analysis of selected weekly and monthly packages showed that Jazz extracted an excess amount of Rs6,583,690,860 from consumers. The report noted that this practice highlighted “poor regulatory oversight” on the part of the PTA.

The PTA had allowed Jazz to revise its package prices through letters issued on February 12 and August 12 last year. These approvals permitted the operator to raise tariffs by up to 15 percent per quarter and reduce incentives in bundles or plans by up to 5 percent, provided that prior intimation was given to the Authority. The approvals covered the periods from February to June 2024 and August to December 2024.

However, the audit report stated: “Jazz has increased prices of its packages vide letter dated 12th November, 2024, under intimation to PTA.”

The report detailed that the telecom operator overbilled customers across nine major packages. The highest overcharging was recorded in the Monthly Super Duper package, from which Jazz collected an excess of Rs722 million since the last approved revision.

Other inflated charges included Rs620m on the Monthly Freedom package, Rs235m on Weekly Super Plus, Rs541.4m on Weekly Freedom, Rs8.5m on Weekly X, Rs4.6m on Monthly X, Rs1,165m on Monthly Max, Rs2,126m on Monthly YouTube & Social Offer, and Rs1,158m on the Weekly Super Max package.

The Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) directed PTA to provide the complete record of approved tariff changes to the audit team for verification. However, the report noted that PTA failed to furnish the required documents before the finalization of the audit.

Recommending corrective measures, the AGP report called for full implementation of DAC directives, an inquiry into the matter, and fixation of responsibility on those involved.

Jazz has not yet issued an official response to the findings.