The government is considering incorporating incentives in the Financial Bill 2022, including tax rebate, tax rationalization, and the elimination of duty tariffs on the import of all the components of high-end 4G and 5G devices and duty-free IMT/5G network-ready equipment imports to enable the 5G technological ecosystem in the country.
The government has targeted the commercial launch of 5G by the first quarter of 2023 at the latest.
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has consulted with the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIT&T), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), and other relevant stakeholders to finalize incentives that are to be reflected in the Financial Bill 2022, which includes but are not limited to:
- tax rebate, tax rationalization, and the elimination of duty the tariff on the import of all components of high end 4G and 5G devices (smartphones, IoT devices, and CPEs) across all slabs to promote the local manufacturing of high end 4G and 5G devices, including handsets and customer premises equipment (CPE), 2G handsets (CBU) import shall be banned.
- duty-free IMT/5G network-ready equipment imports to facilitate 5G readiness and mobile broadband to support wider mobile broadband and 5G networks deployment.
- special incentives for global telecom equipment vendors to establish assembly and production lines in Pakistan to promote the local assembly of IMT/5G and IoT ecosystem devices including chipsets.
According to the suggested timelines, the PTA is to commence hiring a consultant for the auction process after the issuance of the 5G Strategic Plan and Policy guidelines. The finalization and reflection of incentives in the Finance Bill fiscal year 2022-2023 – June 2022. Furthermore, the PTA consultation recommendation finalization for the policy directive by December 2022 has been planned.
Documents revealed that the licensee is required to establish at least one 5G innovation, a test center, and labs to scale up the 5G ecosystem for startups and entrepreneurship activities at their own cost for citizens free of charge for academia and research purpose at Government of Pakistan-designated institutes all over Pakistan within two years of being granted the license.
Extensive non-commercial 5G trials (mobile and fixed) will be supported as well and trials may include the establishment of 5G hotspots in academic institutions, incubation centers, research organizations, etc.
The existing training programs within the MoIT&T and Ignite are to incorporate digital skills that support the 5G use-case discovery process.
The MoIT&T and PTA will lead 5G awareness and orientation campaigns for other ministries and departments (including Science & Technology, Education, Health, Agriculture, etc.) to enable them to develop coordinated policies and use cases relevant to mobile broadband and 5G.
The MoIT&T, PTA, Ministry of Health, Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency, and other stakeholders are to engage in a public education campaign concerning 5G to reassure the public about the safety of the technology. All the relevant stakeholders, including the MoIT&T, the Ministry of Finance, PTA, and FAB to work in parallel to conduct the spectrum auction in 2023.
