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Category: IT & Telecom

Explore IT and Telecom stories with Pakistan Revenue, your go-to source for the latest updates on Pakistan’s technology and telecom sector. Stay ahead with real-time industry insights and economic developments.

  • PTA warns against fake calls for money transfer

    PTA warns against fake calls for money transfer

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Sunday warned general public for not sharing their personal details on hoax or fake calls because response to those calls may result in loss of money.

    In a press release, the PTA cautioned the public to be aware of hoax, falsified and unsolicited calls and messages asking for personal details or money transfer.

    PTA or other organizations such as banks will never call and ask for personal information, like ATM pin, code, OTP and account details.

    People are advised to do not share their personal information with an unknown caller/SMS sender and ignore calls claiming to be from PTA or other organizations asking to update or verify details i.e mother name, account balance, CNIC No etc.

    Besides contacting their respective telecom service operator, consumers may also register their complaints by dialing 0800-55055 or at https://complaint.pta.gov.pk/RegisterComplaint.aspx . Appropriate action would be taken against the persons involved in this fraudulent activity.

  • Country spends Rs248bn on mobile phones import

    Country spends Rs248bn on mobile phones import

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has imported mobile phones worth Rs248 billion during first nine months (July – March) of 2020/2021 owing to rise in demand of devices for digital financial system.

    According to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Saturday, the country imported mobile phones worth 248 billion during July – March 2020/2021 as compared with 153 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, showing an increase of 62 percent.

    The strong value of the dollar during the period forced higher import payment in terms of the Pak Rupee. The import of mobile phones in terms of US dollar increased by 56.74 percent to $1.53 billion during July – March 2020/2021 as compared with $980 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    Market sources said that coronavirus pandemic had limited the physical movement, which had given rise to online transactions. Mobile phones have played a major role in promoting the digital economy.

    Further, the implementation of laws making it mandatory that only verified mobiles through the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to be activated for local services has also discouraged informal channels for the import of mobile phones.

    They said that the depreciation of the Pak Rupee had also an impact on the surge of mobile phone imports.

  • Abolishing withholding tax, reducing sales tax rate on telecom services recommended

    Abolishing withholding tax, reducing sales tax rate on telecom services recommended

    KARACHI: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been urged to abolish withholding tax rate at 12 percent on telecom services to promote the accessibility of internet/data services to the low-income group.

    Similarly, Federal Excise Duty (FED) is charged at 17 percent on telecom services which is on higher side as compared to other sectors, and general rate.

    Provincial authorities levy a much lower rate of sales tax on other services. Since sales tax is a consumption tax (on usage), the decrease in sales tax rate will result in increased usage of telecom services and consequently drive tax collection upwards.

    There should be single sales tax rate across all jurisdiction to remove the anomalies and undue hardships being faced by telecom sector in terms of compliances in different jurisdictions, thus, to provide ease of doing business.

    These recommendations have been sent by Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for the budget 2021/2022.

    The OICCI further recommended that since the insertion of 9th Schedule in Sales Tax Act, 1990 effective 1st July 2014, the matter is in litigation. This tax should be abolished, ab initio, by accepting the decision of Lahore High Court as the resolution of the matter will result in additional upside on the corporate tax side for the exchequer and eliminate the undue litigations.

    On the issue of advance tax on Auction/ Renewal of telecom licenses at 10 percent under section 236A of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, the OICCI recommended that this tax should be abolished being irrational and burdensome on CMOs keeping in view the financial/ tax position.

    The chamber said that as large utility providers, Cellular Mobile Operators’ (CMO) are subject to deduction/collection of withholding of income tax on large number of transactions, which increases the cost and complexity of tax compliance and an additional administrative burden for the telecom sector and negatively impacts the overall business environment.

    It is recommended:

    i. Exemption should be given to the telecom sector from deduction or collection of all types of withholding taxes, like banking and oil sector. There will be no loss of revenue to the exchequer as the tax collection mechanism will be simplified in terms of real time payment of advance tax Under Section 147 on quarterly basis.

    Furthermore, this measure will also make the tax claims and its verification mechanism more transparent with minimum operational hassles as maintaining the thousands of records especially for advance tax on utility bills and imports is itself a very cumbersome procedure.

    ii. Amendments need to be made in the section 147 for the calculation of tax liability. Currently the calculation of tax liability is based on the last assessed position and turnover of the year. The assessed position should not be used as a basis of calculation of tax liability until and unless an independent forum (i.e. At least Tribunal) has also confirmed the assessed position.

    The OICCI recommended to reduce the custom duty rates for batteries (8507.6000) to 5 percent and to abolish additional custom duty and Regulatory duty, as these batteries are used with solar and power systems and are core asset for telecom infrastructure services provider. Reduction in duties will further encourage alternate energy resources for Telecom sector e.g. Solar etc.

    On the issue of custom duty and Regulatory duty on import of telecom equipment, it is recommended to restore SRO 575, reduce Custom duty to 5 percent and abolish the Additional Custom duty and Regulatory duty as the core assets needs to be imported for provisioning of telecom services.

    The OICCI demanded exemption from advance tax on electricity for Telecom Tower Infrastructure Companies. The chamber said that currently taxpayers can obtain exemption certificate for non-deduction of tax on electricity bills under section 235(3) of ITO 2001 if their income is exempt under the law or by discharging their advance tax liability for the year. Such exemption is not available to telecom service providers as their tax liability is minimum under section 153(3) of the ITO, 2001.

    Enabling provision may be inserted in section 235 of the ITO, 2001 to empower the Commissioner to issue exemption certificate to Service Providers under minimum tax regime for non-deduction of advance tax on electricity bills.

  • Ufone awarded contract worth Rs2.07 billion for providing mobile broadband services

    Ufone awarded contract worth Rs2.07 billion for providing mobile broadband services

    ISLAMABAD: The Universal Service Fund (USF) on Friday awarded a contract amounting Rs2.07 billion to Ufone for providing high speed mobile broadband services in Kech district of Balochistan province.

    Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque and Federal Minister for Defence Production, Zubaida Jalal witnessed the contract signing ceremony held at the USF office.

    The contract was signed by Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary, CEO, USF with Nadeem Khan, Acting CEO & Group Chief Financial Officer, Ufone. Federal Secretary for IT and Telecommunication, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui and Chairman PTA, Maj. Gen (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa were also present at the ceremony.

    Sector Commander South, Brigadier Atif Bin Saeed and senior government officials from Turbat virtually attended the ceremony. Chief Guest of the ceremony, Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque said: “In light of the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital Pakistan, the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication through USF has awarded yet another project for the socio-economic betterment of the people of Balochistan.

    “Through the contract being awarded today, residents of Kech district will reap the benefits of High Speed Internet in a span of 12-18 months. It is our priority to ensure that Balochistan remains at the forefront of technology development as we continue to work towards building a robust Digital Pakistan. The digital connectivity will open unprecedented new possibilities for the marginalized communities of Kech district; enhancing their ability to work and transact online and engage in the digital economy.

    “I would pay my special gratitude to the Federal Minister of Defense Production, Ms. Zubaida Jalal who has played a significant role in highlighting the region for digital transformation and emphasizing on the importance of digital inclusion for the growth and prosperity of the youth.”

    The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication through USF has contracted various development projects worth approximately Rs 7 billion to provide High Speed Mobile Broadband services in districts of Chagai, Noshki, Bolan, Mastung, Panjgur, Gwadar, Ziarat, Jaffarabad and Pishin.

    These projects are expected to be completed within 12 to 18 months from the date of commencement.

    The Federal Minister for IT also said: “Today, in this regard, it is pertinent to highlight the progress of National Highways program. The Ministry of IT and Telecommunication through USF has initiated development projects worth approximately Rs1.8 billion to provide High Speed Mobile Broadband services to commuters on all National Highways in Balochistan, thereby covering a road segment of 1,780 km. NH 10 and NH 25 is 75  percent completed whereas NH 50 and NH 70 are 50 percent completed.

    Likewise, NH 25 and NH 65 are 25 percent completed. All National Highway projects will be completed within the next 6 to 9 months.”

    In Balochistan, the youth are benefiting from DG Skills and Virtual University’s education programs. So far, 25,000 youngsters have completed free licensing courses amongst others through DG Skills.

    Similarly, through Virtual University programs, offline centers have been established in 9 districts whereby thousands of students can access educational courses without any internet service.

    Four new software technology parks are being established in Quetta, Khuzdar, Turbat and Gwadar in Balochistan where in lieu of rent, the government will give a 25 % subsidy and other facilities.

    Federal Minister for IT shared that 3,500 students from Balochistan will be provided a 6 month paid internship with a monthly stipend of PKR 20,000. Other than this, new national incubation center campuses will be opened.

    With the help of Ignite, new projects for the youth in research and development will be initiated as well. Syed Amin Ul Haque stated that the people of Balochistan should not be disappointed as we are working very hard for the development of Balochistan.

    The Prime Minister is very clear in his vision that there is no national progress without progress in Balochistan. This is the reason whereby upon my instructions, Federal Secretary for IT and Telecommunication, Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui and all attached departments working under our ministry undertook a tour to Quetta and apprised the Government of Balochistan regarding its development projects.

    While addressing the ceremony, Federal Minister for Defence Production, Zubaida Jalal thanked the Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque and said that the Ministry of IT’s development projects for the people of Balochistan are in line with the true spirit of Digital Pakistan and will play an important role in alleviating the marginalization of Balochistan and supporting the province to come at par with the developed world.

    She further said that I am sure that the development projects in Kech district will be completed timely and I assure you that the youth from these areas will be as capable in terms of skills, capabilities and digital proficiency as youngsters from urban cities.

    Sharing his thoughts at the ceremony, CEO USF, Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary said, “This project will benefit an unserved population of 0.34 Million, thereby covering an unserved area of 23,964 sq. km. of Kech district. Upon the directive of the Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, our focus on providing access and connectivity to the remote and far-flung areas of the country remains distinguished. In the last two years, USF has contracts projects worth over Rs21 billion.

    “This project has been awarded to Ufone through a through an efficient and transparent competitive bidding process. We strive to empower the people of Balochistan and bring ease into their lives through these projects.”

    Sharing his views at the ceremony, Group CFO and Acting CEO PTCL & Ufone, Nadeem Khan, said, “Ufone is dedicated to the cause of a Digital Pakistan. Our telecommunications projects in Balochistan are an attempt to make lives easier for the millions that are residing in the province.

    Through this project in the Kech district of Balochistan, we aim to provide telecom services to 306 muazas of the area. This dream would have never reached fruition without the support of USF, which has been devoted to the cause of providing connectivity in far-flung areas of Pakistan.”

    Senior officials of the IT Ministry, USF and Ufone were also present at the ceremony.

  • Pakistan imports mobile phones worth $1.31 billion in eight months

    Pakistan imports mobile phones worth $1.31 billion in eight months

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has imported mobile phones worth $1.31 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year owing to rise in demand of such devices for digital financial system.

    According to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday the import of mobile phones worth $1.311 billion during July – February 2020/2021 as compared with $865 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    The strong value of the dollar during the period forced higher import payment in terms of the Pak Rupee. The import of mobile phones in terms of rupee surged by 58 percent to Rs213 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $134.8 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

    Market sources said that coronavirus pandemic had limited the physical movement, which had given rise to online transactions. Mobile phones have played a major role in promoting the digital economy.

    Further, the implementation of laws making it mandatory that only verified mobiles through the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to be activated for local services has also discouraged informal channels for the import of mobile phones.

    They said that the depreciation of the Pak Rupee had also an impact on the surge of mobile phone imports.

  • SRB website under cybersecurity threat

    SRB website under cybersecurity threat

    KARACHI: The official website of Sindh Revenue Board (SRB) has been identified as cyber-vulnerable and prone to citizen’s data leakage.

    National Telecom and Information Technology Security Board (NTISB) has issued an advisory through a notification dated March 03, 2021.

    It said that critical vulnerabilities had been identified in website of SRB (notification can be downloaded https://download1.fbr.gov.pk/Docs/202131115323494Advisory8.pdf) that may result in database access and manipulation, exfilteration of sensitive data, remote take-over of users’ sessions and website defacement.

    Identified vulnerabilities are as under:

    a. SQL injection in database

    b. Citizen’s data leakage

    c. Cross site scripting

    d. Unecrypted/plain text transfer of users’ credentials

    e. Cross site request forgery

    f. Microsoft IIS Tilde directory enumeration

    g. Internal IP addresses and server-side paths disclosure

    h. Session cookies lacking secure flags

    i. Server/ASP net version disclosure

    j. Stack traces and error messages on web pages

    k. Server-side technology stack documentation pages on public website.

    For impact of above mentioned vulnerabilities and guidelines for prevention can be downloaded https://download1.fbr.gov.pk/Docs/202131115323494Advisory8.pdf

  • PTA issues regulations for Mobile Device Manufacturing

    PTA issues regulations for Mobile Device Manufacturing

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday said it has issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) regulations and has started receiving applications for mobile device manufacturing.

    In a statement the PTA said that the implementation of PTA’s Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DRIBS) in 2019 had resulted in significant increase in legal import of mobile device and establishment of over 33 local assembly plants of mobile devices in Pakistan.

    These plants have produced over 25 million mobile devices including 4G smart phones since implementation of the system.

    The PTA said that with the successful execution of DRIBS, the local assembly industry had evolved from infancy to well growing stage, with significant growth seen in local assembly of smart phones.

    In 2019, only 119,639 smart phones were assembled locally whereas in 2020, the number of such devices grew to 2.1 million. It is important to highlight that the end of the second month of 2021, around 1.21 million smart phones have so far been assembled in Pakistan.

    In the light of the tremendous impact of DRIBS, the government has introduced a comprehensive Mobile Manufacturing Policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to Pakistan and establish their plants.

    PTA has issued MDM Regulations and has started receiving mobile device manufacturing applications. This initiative will help create more jobs in this technical sector, as well as enable consumer to buy locally manufactured mobile devices, the PTA added.

    The PTA said that the country had the distinction of implementing the world’s first open-source, full-fledged DRIBS. This system has the ability to identify all IMEIs latched on Pakistan’s mobile networks and to categorize them based on their compliant status.

  • Huawei Middle East chief visits PTA

    Huawei Middle East chief visits PTA

    ISLAMABAD: President (Middle East Region) of Huawei Technologies, Charles Yang, visited Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Headquarters in Islamabad, a statement said on Tuesday.

    The President was along with Mark Meng, CEO of Huawei Technologies Pakistan and Deputy CEO Ahmed Bilal Masud.

    The delegation met Chairman PTA Major General (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa and discussed matters of mutual interest and investment opportunities.

    The two sides discussed future plans of Huawei Technologies in Pakistan and development of innovative digital and financial solutions to accelerate progress towards digital Pakistan.

  • TPL Properties announces developing Technology Park in Sindh

    TPL Properties announces developing Technology Park in Sindh

    KARACHI: TPL Properties on Monday announced to develop first ever Technology Park in Sindh with high end technology facilities.

    In an information shared with Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company said that in continuation to the disclosure made by TPL Properties Limited dated November 11, 2020, whereby the company had announced entering into an Agreement to Sell.

    “We are pleased to announce that the Company, through its wholly owned Subsidiary, G-18 (Private) Limited, has now acquired Plot No. 25-B, measuring 10,002 Square Yards, situated at Sector 30, Korangi Industrial Area, Karachi upon execution of the Sale Deed dated February 19, 2021.

    “The Company aims to develop state-of-art, first ever Technology Park in the Province of Sindh with high end technology facilities. Such infrastructure shall provide a platform to the IT Sector across Pakistan.

    “The timeline for the completion of the Project is anticipated to be two years which includes planning and designing phase.”

  • Fault in international internet cable, PTA makes alternate arrangements

    Fault in international internet cable, PTA makes alternate arrangements

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Friday said that an international internet cable fault has been reported. However, alternate arrangements to the users have been made, the PTA added.

    In a statement it said, in the wake of a fault in one of the international cables landing in Pakistan, alternate arrangements to provide uninterrupted internet services to the users have been made by relevant service providers through obtaining additional bandwidth.

    Trans World Associates (TEA) has earlier communicated service degradation on the international connectivity towards Europe on SMW5 cable system due to subsea fault near Abu Talat, Egypt. Work is underway to rectify the fault however it may take some time until the fault is removed completely.

    PTA is monitoring the situation and will continue to update on it.