broadband – Pakistan Tech News

Rs. 3 Billion Worth of New Projects in the Next Fiscal Year – MoIT

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIT) came up with four new projects of the Special Communication Organization (SCO) under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2016-17, against a demand of Rs. 1146.8 million, according to documents, and an estimated cost of Rs. 2766.9 million.

A demand of Rs.1.333 billion for the 9 new schemes for 2016-17 was made by Ministry which includes:

IT Capacity Building of Federal Government Employees (NITB)-Rs 20 million
Replication of e-Health Services at Federally Administrative hospitals (NITB)-Rs 20 million
Research Studies and Updations for ICT Industry- Rs 51 million
IT Industry Support Programs (PSEB)-Rs 37.264 million
Expansion of Broadband Internet Services in AJ&K Phase-II (SCO)-Rs 44-4 million
Expansion of Broadband Internet Services in GB Phase-II (SCO)-Rs 32.5 million
Replacement of GSM Network of AJ&K (Project no. III/2011-2012)-Rs 580 million
Provision of Seamless GSM Coverage along KKH for Proposed Gawadar-Kashighar Economic Corridor in Gilgit-Baltistan (Project I/2014-2015) GB (SCO)-Rs 489 million
Feasibility Study and Consultancy for development of Information Technology (IT) Park at Karachi-Rs 58.287 million.

A proposal of Rs. 2457.832 million was put forward by the MoIT under the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) for the year 2016-17 against the Rs. 922.804 marked for the current financial year. Also, two new projects for National Information Technology Board and one of Pakistan Software Development Board were proposed but none for MoITT IT wing and MoIT Telecom wing were proposed in the coming PSDP.

The PSDP for the coming fiscal year 2016-17 was prepared and sent to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology for consideration and recommendation with respect to MoIT and its connected departments, which is a mandate for discussion, proposals and passed by end March.

The proposed layout of PSDP for fiscal year 2016-17 is Rs 2457.832 million against 20 schemes relating to IT & Telecom sectors including 11 old/ongoing and nine new projects.

The government has earmarked Rs 922.804 million including Rs 722.804 million local component and Rs 150 million foreign component. However the data of Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms shows that Rs 1342.549 million has so far been released to IT and Telecom ministry including Rs 1144.5 million foreign aid and Rs 198 million local component.

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms does not show the foreign component however, according to the Economic Affaires Division China has released Rs 1144.5 million for construction of cross- border optical fiber cable (OFC) system between China and Pakistan for international connectivity of voice / data traffic under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The government however released no amount against the replication of e-office (basic common applications) at 45 divisions of federal government, research & development unit (Islamabad) and technology parks development project at Islamabad projects.

After getting the passage from standing committee, the proposed PSDP would be presented before the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms for final consideration.

PTCL Declares Up to 100Mbps DSL Broadband New Packages and Prices

PTCL today declared a huge cut in its DSL broadband packages; it has introduced special kinda packages with high-speed rates. PTCL further announced that price cuts are in connection with company’s visualization of furnishing internet users in the country with best possible broadband speeds.

PTCL’s DSL broadband services are accessible in over 2,000 cities across Pakistan, while it has more than 1.5 million DSL subscriptions that the company is doing effort to grow with these trendy price plans. PTCL is now also introducing its higher speed limits — such as 20Mbps, 30Mbps, 50Mbps and 100Mbps — for public.

According to details, PTCL’s broadband services are priced as following:

To improve the quality and to provide smooth services to customers Rs. 5,000 per month will be charged for greater than 300 GBs downloads. This is not applicable to 8 Mbps and above connections

** 1Mbps and 2Mbps Economy packages contain download limit of 10GB and 15GB respectively. Downloads exceeding limit of respective package will be charged additional Rs.100 per GB.

*** GPON is with subject to availability in specific area.

How to Subscribe to PTCL DSL Broadband Service?

To subscribe, or to find out maximum supported speeds at your location, call 0800-80800

Punjab has Imposed Taxes up to 19.5% Taxes on 3G/4G Internet Users

Government of Punjab has recently declared tax prices for the internet services over 2Mbps and for bills exceeding Rs. 1,500 per month, starting tomorrow.

With this policy more that 56% population of Pakistan will be liable to pay service taxes on internet usage for 3G, 4G, broadband, EVO or anything internet communication with speeds exceeding 2Mbps or/and if the monthly bill for their service exceeds Rs. 1,500 per month. The government will start implementation on this policy from 29th May 2015.

Here is the details of SRO according to which tax is implemented that was earlier settled to internet services has been withdrawn.

This Tax will Kill The Industry

I feel pity for Anusha Rehman, Ishaq Dar and Nawaz Sharif with their tall claims for efforts that they had made for auctioning 3G and 4G.

Just this morning Anusha Rehman — at an event — wasted more than 30 minutes in explaining how government is supporting 3G/4G and entrepreneurship in the country; the fact is that this government has decided to kill it all.

Observing the revolving high growth rate of internet users in Pakistan, all the appropriate investment, worth billions of dollars, will be retreated to other market and Pakistan will be ordained for the Stone Age again.

Interestingly thus callous decision appeared a week ago before the budget announcement so that Balochistan gets sufficient time to get its sheets right and force similar taxes on internet usage.

Just to have a reminder, KPK and Sindh provinces have already imposed the charges service taxes on internet consumption while tax in both the provinces in conventional internet and use on mobile data. Also tax implementation on all types of internet by Punjab that houses than 56% of Pakistani population is just lethal.

Industry’s Response

Telecom service operators have no words for this development. When it was supposed to manage their record and responses, they were clueless, worries and scattered. An absolute depression has caught up the market as it is aware of the damage tax is going to do to people, country and businesses as well.

One thing is clear to reject this tax. However they are unsure about the source of rejecting it but they have finalized to not to play in the hands of the government.

“They said that Pakistan waited for more than 5 years to launch 3G and 4G, and now when conditions are just about to settle down, this tax is going to take us back to where we had started.”

One official of a telecom company commented:

“It is such a shame that politicians, who prefer their personal pockets over national economy, are such short sighted that they preferred killing the internet industry, eCommerce, m-banking, entrepreneurship and almost entire economy for meeting budgetary deficits.”

Another top level official, said:

This tax has shocked the industry. Telecom companies didn’t invest more than $1.5 billion dollars in Pakistan for 3G and 4G just to face 20% tax on internet.

What to Do Now?

ACT. Respond to this imposed tax by raising your voice, on all the existing platforms so millions of people can get awareness of it. Call the media, TV channels, radio stations and describe your concerns and opinions.