ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday said that Starlink is not a legit internet service provider in the country.
The PTA in a press release informed the general public that satellite broadband provider Starlink had neither applied for nor obtained any license from PTA to operate and provide internet services in Pakistan.
Therefore, general public is advised in their own interest that they must refrain for engaging in any pre-booking orders being placed on Starlink or any of its associated websites.
The directions came in the wake of reports that Starlink, through its website, is asking intended subscribers to pay a deposit of $99 (refundable) as pre-order for equipment/services.
PTA has already taken up the matter with Starlink to stop taking pre-order bookings from intended consumers with immediate effect as the Company has not been granted any license for provision of internet services in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced the provision of free mobile calling facilities for individuals stranded in Murree and the Galliat region due to extreme weather conditions. This emergency initiative was implemented on Sunday following reports of severe disruptions caused by heavy snowfall and traffic gridlocks in the area.
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Sunday said it is launching a new initiative of Asaan (easy) Mobile Account (AMA) on Monday, December 13, 2021.
The central bank in a statement said that the initiative was developed under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy with the objective to bring further ease in remote account opening under branchless banking.
This means that the customers would be able to open and operate their accounts in the comfort of their homes, without having to visit the branches, with any of the participating branchless banking providers.
The solution has been developed through a collaboration of SBP, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), 13 Branchless Banking (BB) Providers, all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) and Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG). ForAMA, the branchless banking providers and cellular mobile operators are collaborating to deliver an interoperable platform, allowing any Pakistani to open account with a bank.
AMA will play a crucial role in reaching out to the low-income segments that do not have access to internet. Moreover, AMA will be a perfect conduit to onboard women customer segments as well.
Subsequent to the imposition of the ban on July 20, 2021, the PTA remained in communications with the TikTok management.
As a result of continuous engagement, senior management of the platform assured PTA of its commitment to take necessary measures to control unlawful content in accordance with local laws and societal norms.
The company also assured that the users who are continuously involved in uploading unlawful content will be blocked from using the platform.
Keeping in view the assurances, the authority has decided to lift the ban on TikTok forthwith.
The PTA will continue to monitor the platform in order to ensure that unlawful content contrary to Pakistan’s law and societal values is not disseminated.
The PTA said that unwanted calls/messages can be disruptive, but there are measures to minimize them.
For blocking telemarketing communication, a person needs to register his number on the “Do Not Contact Register (DNCR)”. In order to register the person need to send a message by typing ‘reg’ and SMS to 3627.
To allow telemarketing communication again, type ‘unreg’ and SMS to 3627.
The PTA said that concerned service provider may be contacted in case of issue or for details about tariff/subscription charges.
To block spamming/unsolicited communication, the PTA issued procedure under which a person should type spammer’s cell number, give a space, paste the received message and SMS to 9000.
SMS charges of PKR 0.10 (inclusive of taxes) apply for each SMS to prevent abuse of facility.
For blocking obnoxious/unknown calls and SMSs, the PTA suggested to dial *420# (for Jazz, Telenor & Ufone subscribers) or 420 (for ZONG subscribers). Concerned service provider may be contacted to get detail about tariff/subscription.
The regulator further said that in case an issue is not resolved, the complaint may be lodged to PTA through an online complaint management system:
The PTA said that after dismissal of a petition from Islamabad High Court, PTA has renewed Jazz License due for renewal since 2019.
Renewed License has enhanced terms and conditions for coverage and Quality of Service, as established during the recent Pakistan Spectrum Auction.
The license signing was held at PTA Headquarters on Monday.
The license is renewed at a price of $449.2 Million out of which Jazz has already paid $333.64 million on account of license renewal fee and applicable markup.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday warned non-filers of harsh action including monetary penalty and imprisonment.
In a statement, a FBR spokesman said that the last date for filing income tax return for tax year 2021 is October 15, 2021 and it will not be further extended.
The actual last date for filing the income tax returns for tax year 2021 was September 30, 2021. However, to technical issues on the FBR portal this date was extended for 15 days. The FBR in this regard issued Circular No. 08 to extend the date of filing income tax returns.
Through the latest statement, the FBR urged the persons having taxable income or those who are required to file their returns under Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, should file their returns in remaining two days.
According to the statement the FBR’s IRIS portal was working smoothly. “Therefore, no further date will be extended beyond October 15, 2021,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman further said that after the due date the non-filers would face monetary penalty of Rs1,000 each day of default. Furthermore, the non-filers may face imprisonment for two years.
The tax practitioners, however, are not satisfied with the performance of the FBR stating that the technical issues were not resolved so far.
“Despite repeated requests the FBR has not resolved the issues in return filing,” Zeeshan Merchant, President, Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) told PkRevenue.com
Merchant said that calculation error in return form for SMEs was still a major issue.
Besides, these issues the taxpayers and tax practitioners had also faced slow speed of internet, which was caused by a fault in international cable, as income tax returns are required to file electronically.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) a day earlier issued a statement on the cable fault and said that it was monitoring the situation and will continue to update on it.
PTA is monitoring the situation and will continue to update on it.
“A submarine cable fault was reported yesterday near Fujairah, UAE due to which some users may have faced degradation in services. The faulty cable segment has been repaired & work is underway to make the services fully functional,” the PTA said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday said that an amount of $30 million has been generated as revenue from first-ever cellular spectrum auction for Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) in Azad Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) and Gilgit Baltistan.
The company won the spectrum in a bid to enhance 4G customer experience across the country.
Federal Minister for IT & Telecom, Syed Aminul Haq along with Secretary IT & Telecom, Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Chairman PTA, Major General Amir Azeem Bajwa (Retd.) HI (M), senior officials from the ministry and PTCL Group attended the event. DG Licensing PTA, Brig. Amer Shahzad (Retd.) and President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf signed the contract.
The company plans to use the spectrum to introduce new innovative products and services and enhance its customer experience by providing high-quality internet as well as to expand its existing network to unserved and underserved regions of the country.
Sharing his thoughts on spectrum acquisition, President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf said: “It is a historic day for Ufone, as we have acquired additional 4G Spectrum in order to fully optimize our mobile data services. This will enable us to further enhance our users’ experience, expand the existing network to serve the unserved areas. Improved data experience will enable a digital transformation in education, health care, agriculture, banking and ecommerce ecosystems to name a few.”
“We appreciate Government of Pakistan for executing the spectrum auction process in a seamless and transparent manner”, he further added.
The additional spectrum will enable Ufone to not only connect Pakistanis living in far flung areas without cellular services but will also enable people in urban centers and towns to enjoy new sets of innovative products and unmatched experience.
It said the production of mobile phones by local manufacturing plants was 12.27 million and the number of imported mobile phones was recorded at 8.29 million.
“This trend reflects a positive uptake on PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization regulatory regime whereby local manufacturing within the first year of regime introduction has resulted in production of 12.27 million phones in a short span of seven months including 4.87 million 4G smart phones.”
The PTA said that successful implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DRIBS) along with conducive government policies, including mobile manufacturing policy, has created a favorable environment for mobile manufacturing in Pakistan.
“It has also contributed positively to the mobile ecosystem of Pakistan by eliminating counterfeit device market providing a level playing field for commercial entities and has created trust amongst consumers due to the formulation of standardized legal channels for all sort of device import.”
The PTA said that the government had introduced a comprehensive mobile manufacturing policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to establish their units in Pakistan.
The telecom authority in light of the policy issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations on January 28, 2021. “Till now, 26 companies have been issued MDM authorization enabling them to manufacture mobile devices in Pakistan.”
The companies include renowned brands e.g. Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, TECNO, Infinix, Vgotel, Q-mobile etc.
