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Tag: PTA

  • Number of 3G, 4G users in Pakistan increases to 113.89 million

    Number of 3G, 4G users in Pakistan increases to 113.89 million

    The latest data from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reveals that the number of 3G and 4G users grew by 1.14 million from 112.75 million in April 2022 to 113.89 million in May 2022.

    Pakistan’s cellular subscriber base grew by 0.25 million to 193 million by the end of May 2022, up from 192.75 million at the end of April, according to Brecorder.

    By the end of May, cellular mobile teledensity had risen from 87.6 per cent to 87.67 per cent. By the end of May, the total teledensity had risen to 88.81 per cent, up from 88.74 per cent in April.

    The monthly penetration of Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) at the end of April had risen to 51.73 per cent, up from 51.24 per cent.

    Network providers

    The total number of 3G users on Jazz fell from 6.222 million at the end of April to 6.068 million at the end of May, a reduction of 0.154 million. By the end of May, the number of Jazz 4G users had risen from 36.567 million to 37.168 million.

    Zong 3G subscribers fell from 3.357 million at the end of April to 3.272 million at the end of May, while 4G users grew from 27.952 million at the end of April to 28.317 million at the end of May.

    Telenor 3G subscribers fell from 3.696 million at the end of April to 3.613 million at the end of May, whereas Telenor 4G users enhanced from 21.216 million at the end of April to 21.494 million at the end of May.

    By the end of May, there were 3.576 million Ufone 3G users, up from 3.673 million at the end of April. Ufone’s 4G users increased from 8.761 million at the end of April to 9.052 million at the end of May, a 0.291 million increase over the previous month.

  • IMF remains concerned over Pakistan’s budget 2022-23

    IMF remains concerned over Pakistan’s budget 2022-23

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed concern regarding Pakistan’s newly announced budget, according to Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, however the government is convinced it can implement adjustments to appease the lender.

    According to Miftah Ismail, Pakistan is expecting to sign a staff-level agreement with the IMF this month.

    The government officially launched a Rs9.5 trillion ($47.12 billion) budget for 2022-23 on Friday, striving to persuade the IMF to resume the crucial bailout payments.

    “The IMF still has some concerns regarding our budget,” Ismail said in an interview at his Islamabad office. If any alterations are mandated to bring them on board, we will consider them, he added.

    He stated that the IMF was displeased regarding fuel subsidies, a growing current account shortfall, and the need to enhance direct taxes.

    Fuel subsidies have been lowered in the last two weeks, and the remaining assistance is presumed to be phased out in the days ahead. Proposed budget estimates also aim to reduce the current account deficit, but direct tax revenues remain a concern.

    Ismail stated that Pakistan would try to alleviate the issues before the budget is approved by parliament. The fiscal year in Pakistan runs from July 1 to June 30. “If there are any changes that need to be made to bring them on board, we shall do so,” he said.

    Read more: Here are the latest income tax rates and slabs for salaried class

    Pakistan is halfway through a $6 billion, 39-month IMF programme that has been stalled due to the lender’s concerns about the status of some of its goals, including fiscal consolidation. It requires funds direly owing to the country’s shrinking foreign exchange reserves, which have reached $9.2 billion and are only sufficient for fewer than 45 days of imports.

  • Pakistan manufactured 9.72 million mobile phones in four months: Report

    Pakistan manufactured 9.72 million mobile phones in four months: Report

    Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that domestic plants produced 9.72 million mobile devices in the first four months of 2022, contrasted to 0.86 million acquired internationally.

    In April 2022, local manufacturing plants developed 2.56 million mobile devices, compared to 0.25 million imported from other countries.

    According to Brecorder, 5.69 million 2G smartphones and 4.03 million 3G and 4G phones are among the 9.72 million mobile handsets developed or assembled locally. 53 per cent of mobile devices on the Pakistan network are 3G and 4G smartphones, while 47 per cent are 2G.

    Despite the growth in local mobile phone production, Pakistan acquired $1.810 billion worth of cellphones in the first ten months of 2021-22, contrasted to $1.684 billion in the same period the previous year, a 7.43 per cent increase, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

    Total telecommunications imports into the country climbed by 14.05 per cent during the review period (July-April) 2021-22, rising from $2.116 billion in July-April 2020-21 to $2.413 billion in the same period last year.

    According to PTA data, the local manufacturing tendency indicates a favourable response to the PTA’s Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Authorization regulatory system.

  • PTA to take action against advertising of illegal housing societies on social media

    PTA to take action against advertising of illegal housing societies on social media

    The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) instructed housing societies that do not have a legal No Object Certificate (NOC) to refrain from advertising unauthorized businesses on social media platforms.

    According to a news release, the PTA has been approached by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in response to a direction given by the Lahore High Court in a writ case on March 30, 2022, with regard to banning advertisements of illegal housing societies on digital and social media.

    All non-approved housing societies that operate without valid NOC from the concerned authorities are encouraged to desist from publicising the unlawful business on social media platforms, or else the PTA will take action in accordance with its legal mandate.

  • Pakistanis will get slow Internet on Thursday

    Pakistanis will get slow Internet on Thursday

    Internet users in Pakistan will have to deal with slow internet speed tomorrow (Thursday). As per Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the internet speed in Pakistan will be slow on April 21 from 2 am to 7 am, meaning overnight on Thursday, due to a power reconfiguration activity on a section of the international submarine cable.

    “Alternate measures to provide uninterrupted internet services to users will be taken to meet capacity requirements and to return to full functionality as quickly as possible. The availability of internet services will be as usual throughout the country” The PTA said in a tweet.

    Last night the photo-sharing app Instagram was down globally for several users. Most users were unable to access profiles or refresh the feed, for hours.

  • PTA records 1.73 million new 3G, 4G users in one month

    PTA records 1.73 million new 3G, 4G users in one month

    The latest stats from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) show that the number of 3G and 4G customers in Pakistan increased by 1.73 million to 113.11 million by the end of March 2022, up from 111.38 million at the end of February 2022.

    By the end of March 2022, the number of mobile users in Pakistan had risen by 1.79 million to 193.42 million, up from 191.63 million at the end of February 2022. The cellular population climbed from 87.17 per cent in February 2022 to 87.95 per cent in March 2022.

    The entire teledensity had risen to 89.09 per cent, up from 88.31 per cent in February.

    The overall number of Jazz 3G users was 6.489 million at the end of March, down from 6.607 million at the end of February 2022, a fall of 0.118 million. By the end of March, the number of Jazz 4G users had risen from 35.822 million to 36.518 million.

    The number of Zong 3G customers fell from 3.501 million in February to 3.447 million in March, while the amount of 4G users increased from 27.483 million in February to 28.033 million in March.

    Telenor’s 3G users totaled 3.911 million at the end of March, which was the same as at the end of February. The graph, however, shows a downward trend. Its 4G subscribers increased from 20.801 million at the end of February to 21 million by the end of March 2022.

    Read more: Textile exports soared 25pc to $14.3b: PBS

    By the end of March, there were 3.809 million Ufone 3G users, up from 3.873 million at the end of February. Ufone’s 4G user base expanded from 8.099 million in February to 8.6 million by the end of March 2022, a 0.501 million growth in the time period under consideration.

  • Can a jalsa turnout be determined through number of mobile phones?

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s jalsa’ was held on March 27 at the Parade Ground in Islamabad as the opposition geared up to remove the PM from his office via a no-confidence motion. The very first thing that the media speculates is that how many people were present at the location of the rally.

    Several Pakistani digital news platforms have stated that “more than 0.6 million unique mobile devices were detected in Islamabad on Sunday, as per the data traffic analysis shared by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)”, which means that they are suggesting that more than six lakh people were present at the PTI rally.

    It is pertinent to mention that PTA or any authentic personnel have not officially released any statement regarding this. In fact, a number of netizens have commented that the ones who are claiming the presence of 0.6 million people at the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s march do not have the authentic source of information.

    The crowd was reportedly estimated by Islamabad police to be between 60,000 – 70,000 people, while the Intelligence Bureau (IB) said it was only 26,000 people.

    Independent sources claim that not more than 35,000 people attended the rally, and some suggest that the crowd was not even close to 100,000 people.

    But the question remains: Can you determine a jalsa turnout through the number of mobile phones in the area?

    Whenever a cell phone is used, it emits an electromagnetic radio wave, called a radio frequency, which is received by the nearest cell tower’s antenna. Once the cell tower receives this signal, it will transmit the signals to a switching center.

    Also, the cellular towers have limitations to accommodate a certain number of phones, this might allow the network provider to determine the devices connected to it.

  • Annual report reveals only 22% women in Pakistan are social media users: PTA

    Annual report reveals only 22% women in Pakistan are social media users: PTA

    There is a great gender gap in social media users of Pakistan, reveals a report published by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the year 2021.

    “Pakistan has some of the widest gender gaps identified not only by international organisations but also by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS),” states the report.

    “The digitally excluded segments of Pakistani women are mainly illiterate, unemployed, disabled, and those over 45 years of age,” it added.

    Since the last couple of years, the percentage of female mobile subscriptions is only 21 per cent of the total subscriptions. This results in a large number of unaccounted women using mobile connections. Of 1,825 million (FY 2021) mobile connections across Pakistan, only 38 million are held by females against their CNICs; the remaining 144 million connections are held by the male population.

    The Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Household Survey 2021 released by PBS reported that 46 per cent of the country’s population (25% female and 65% male) owns a mobile phone. In terms of the rural-urban divide, the gap between male-female mobile ownership in rural areas is much higher compared to urban areas.

    As per the report, out of the total social media users in the country, only 22 per cent are women, while the rest of 78 per cent are men.

    The report also revealed the websites that are most visited local websites by the users, which are Daraz, OLX, Urdu Point, and Dawn.

  • LHC dismisses petition seeking ban on PUBG

    LHC dismisses petition seeking ban on PUBG

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) dismissed a plea regarding banning the popular online mobile game PUBG on Monday.

    A resident of Lahore, Tanveer Sarwar, approached the LHC and filed a plea to ban the online mobile game after a violent murder in Lahore.

    The petitioner had to appear on the day of the hearing, however, he did not reach the court.

    As a result, the LHC discharged the application over the petitioner’s discontinuation of the case’s pursuit.

    The petitioner claimed in the application that PUBG is creating intolerance in society and causing detrimental effects on young minds.

    Last month, 18-year-old Ali Zain killed four members of his family in Lahore. An investigator found that the teenager was “addicted” to the online game PUBG.

    According to the murderer, he went to sleep after the murder with a sense of accomplishment. The bodies of his four family members were discovered on January 19.

    The Punjab Police had decided to request the federal and provincial governments to ban PUBG after this incident.

    On July 1, 2021, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) temporarily suspended PUBG in the country after it received multiple complaints from different segments of society. However, the ban was lifted later.

  • Want to buy the new iPhone? Think again because the new Pakistan tax is shocking

    Want to buy the new iPhone? Think again because the new Pakistan tax is shocking

    If you are thinking of asking your relative or a friend to bring you iPhone 13 Pro Max 1TB from abroad, think again. The government has yet again increased taxes on luxury phones.

    Let’s suppose you buy the highest-end iPhone from abroad. The 1TB phone will cost you $1,730.92 which is 305,068.94 PKR, for the highest-end iPhone.

    If you will a buy a 128GB phone it will cost you $1,189.67 which is 208,571.16 PKR. Similarly, the price for a 256GB phone will be $1,297.92 which is 227,549.39 PKR.

    The price of a 512GB phone is 1514.42$ which is 265,505.84 PKR.

    A government source has informed The Current that phones from abroad are now being subjected to 17% sales tax instead of a fixed sales tax. The total tax will also include customs tax.

    Earlier, the fixed sales tax on the iPhone13 Pro max was Rs. 10,000 but if you now calculate a 17 per cent tax on 305,068.94 PKR in our case, the tax will be 51,861.7198. The customs tax is Rs 34,000 on the iPhone.

    If you now want to buy an iPhone 13 Pro max in Pakistan, the total tax will be 51,861.7198+34,000=85,861.17 for the 1TB Phone.

    If you have a passport on which you came back with the phone, it will cost you a little less, 51,861.7198+26,000=77,861.7198.

    Government sources while talking to The Current said, “If a person can afford a phone worth almost 300k, then he can pay 78k too. These phones have inelastic demands.”

    “Most smartphones sold in Pakistan (more than 80%) and mid category (between $150-200). 70% of these are now made in Pakistan and have very little tax on them. The ones in the range that are imported have a tax of around Rs 5-8k on them,” the source added.