A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet was chaired by Rana Mahmood-ul-Hasan. The meeting discussed the matter of social media offices and other developments in the IT sector. Social media platforms cite security issues for not opening offices in Pakistan and are considering opening virtual offices.
Farooq H. Naek raised an issue regarding rising mobile phone costs. He criticized that this is restricting access and hindering the country’s digitization. He questioned the efforts toward digitizing the economy. The issue will be taken up with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), said the Cabinet Secretary. The secretary added that local mobile manufacturing has started and phones are now available in installments, aiding digitization. 37 local companies are manufacturing mobiles, with 20 million units produced annually, 40% being smartphones.
Chairman PTA briefed the committee. He said that 56% of the population has internet access and that Pakistan’s 5G auction is expected to take place in March or April next year. Mobile services were suspended four times last year during events like Muharram, May 9, and elections.
Telenor is leaving Asia and has already left India. They claim the business conditions in Pakistan are not favorable and they are incurring losses. The licensing process for IoT Technology is starting and the satellite policy is now complete. During the meeting, Rana Mahmood-ul-Hasan questioned whether social media giants are paying taxes for international ads.
There is a lack of legislation since there are no regulations or laws on this matter, as per the PTA Chairman. There are ongoing negotiations with platforms like Facebook and Instagram regarding this issue, said Azam Nazir Tarar. He added that these platforms are being used for commercial purposes and that they are taxed worldwide.
There is a 34.50% tax on telecom consumers in Pakistan, with comparisons to other countries: Sri Lanka (20-40%), Bangladesh (21-33%), India (18.5%), and Nepal (26%), according to the PTA Chairman. There chairman added that there have been no cyber attacks on telecom in the past two years.
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PTA chairman is coming from Army?. This is a joke or what?. Look at developed countries. Telecom authorities are run by professional telecom experts and PhDs with years of corporate and research experience. How come a War veteran will manage PTA?. Where is Merit in Pakistan?.
Lumber 1 chairman . Just like in everything else . What an accomplishment.
Allah hamare shaheedon ke darjaat bland farma.
Pehle jo internet hai usko zalalat se bachny ke liye slow kar deta hai. Agay ka app ko pata hi hai.
Isne uniform q pehna hai? Ye ganja to retired hai or civil post par hai to uniform q
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Moving towards digitization with PTA continuously disrupting internet services.now comes a firewall for spying.Cant expect less from an army Personnel pretending to be PTA Chairman.
Pichle 5 saal se yeah bagherat bss dates hi announce k raha hy....ALLAH inn ko aur inn ki nalsoan ko Tabah O barbaad kry jiss tarhan inho ne hamaray mulk ko tabah kr rahy hain...