Following the federal government’s rise in telecom tariffs, telecom companies have warned the public to expect regular “phone call” blackouts across the country, similar to power load-shedding.
The news came out of a recent Senate Standing Committee on Finance hearing when members of the telecom industry expressed major reservations about the tax rise.
During the conference, telecom representatives stated that the federal government has increased the advance tax on imported fiber optic cable by 15% while increasing duty by 20%.
They said that telecom businesses are already dealing with a number of issues and that raising taxes on the fiber-optic cable will add to the industry’s burden.
Telco officials said that fiber optic cable is only utilized in 10% of towers across the nation and that until the government lowers fiber optic cable taxes, Pakistan would fall behind in the global connectivity race.
They asked the committee to suggest to the government that import duties on fiber optic cable be reduced to 8%. The telecom businesses were assured that their suggestions would be forwarded to the government by the committee.
