NA Body Agrees to Recover Rs78b Dues from LDI License Firms
Staff Report:
The Parliamentary Panel on Tuesday agreed not to given any concession to Long Distance and International (LDI) license companies in the recovery of dues of Rs78 billion.
It also agreed to activate the Telecom Tribunal to resolve the matter as early as possible.
Chairman PTA, Major General (Retd) Hafeezur Rehman, informed the committee that in the last six years, Rs 1700 billion had been deposited in the national treasury from telecom companies in the form of tax, but not a single rupee had been spent by the government to improve the network situation in the country.PTA urges telecom consumers to pay applicable FBR taxes for Mobile Device Registration
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunications that met on Tuesday expressed its displeasure over the delay in taking necessary steps for digitization in the country, the launch of services of Starlink and Chinese companies, and the slow pace of projects related to the construction of IT parks.
Chairman NA Standing Committee, on IT & Telecom Syed Aminul Haq, also expressed concern over the non-spending of Rs 6 billion allocated for the Karachi IT Park project in the current financial year, the Personal Data Protection Bill, and the delay in the Artificial Intelligence Policy.
The 11th meeting of the Standing Committee on IT and Telecom was attended by Syed Mustafa Kamal, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Ahmed Atiq Anwar, Umair Khan Niazi, Rumeena Khursheed Alam, Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Adil Khan Bazai, Mukhtar Ahmed Malik, Parliamentary Secretary for IT Ms. Sabeen Ghauri, Secretary IT Zarar Hashim Khan, Special Secretary Azfar Manzoor, Member Telecom Jahanzeb Rahim, Chairman PTA Major General (Retd) Hafeezur Rehman, CEO Universal Service Fund (USF) Chaudhry Mudassar Naveed, and CEO Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Abu Bakar were present.
Joint Secretary Ms. Saima Ahad briefed the meeting on the progress made so far in the public sector development programs (PSDP) of the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoIT&T) and its affiliated institutions. She informed that an amount of Rs 24 billion had been allocated for this purpose in the current financial year.
The committee members made reservations about the broadband services of the Special Communication Organization (SCO) in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Syed Aminul Haq directed MoIT&T to complete all the proceedings regarding the improvement of broadband services in AJK & GB, immediate completion of the fiberization policy, Proposal to grant government Fund to USF, finalization, matter related to Starlink, and establishment of Telecom Tribunal, and submit a report to the committee.
On the suggestion of the members, Chairman Committee Syed Aminul Haq directed the MoIT&T to submit proposals for the release of separate grants from the federal government to the Universal Service Fund, which gets one-and-a-half percent share from the revenue of telecom companies, so that the Prime Minister can be approached in this regard.
Syed Aminul Haq emphasized that telecom companies invest in urban areas to provide their services, but government grants for USF are essential for broadband service delivery and laying optical fiber cables in remote and backward areas of the country.
If the company has adequate funds, the process of broadband services and fiberization across the country will be completed quickly, which will provide better services to the common people, and on the other hand, the dream of digitization of the government will be fulfilled, and it will be easier to achieve IT export targets.
“These steps are necessary to connect with the digital world and adjust ourselves to the pace of technology,” he added.
