During the Budget 2022-23, the Federal government has raised the taxes for various things, including optical fibers used by Telecom companies. Thus, the telecom operators warned the nationals to prepare themselves for the Phone Call Load shedding after the rise in taxes. The Phone class load shedding will be like the electricity when there are no signals during the scheduled timings.
However, the telecom companies recently attended a meeting in which they talked about the increased taxes and gave suggestions. During the meeting, the companies’ representatives stated that govt has raised the taxes on the import of optic fiber cable by 15%; however, duty has increased by 20%. The representative clarified that Pakistan’s telecom companies had faced many challenges. Now, this raise in taxes has put a huge burden on the industry.
Regarding the current situation, the Telecom companies said that if the government didn’t reduce the taxes, we would lose global connectivity. They have also stated that only 10% of towers across the country have optical cable connectivity.
Thus, after all these, the telecom industry suggested reducing the taxes on the import of cable up to 8%. However, the committee ensured the companies that they would forward their suggestion to the government.
Hopefully, the government will overlook this problem seriously and solve it as soon as possible. Otherwise, the country might face the phone calls Load Shedding after the electricity.
