Cellular Operators Demands Rationalization of Tax: ProPakistani

Cellular Operators Demands Rationalization of Tax
Add Google +1 Button to Your Website
Rumor: Microsoft Buying Nokia for 19 Billion Dollars
Shipping Company Gets Busted for Using Pirated Microsoft Software
UKAID to Further Assist Easypaisa to Strengthen its Operations
Scam: MNP Requests Being Processed Without Customer’s Consent
Jazz Customers Win Gold Coins
Ufone Congratulates Pakistan A Team

Cellular Operators Demands Rationalization of Tax

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 10:50 AM PDT

Cellular Operators Demands Rationalization of Tax is a post from: ProPakistani

tax Cellular Operators Demands Rationalization of Tax The cellular operators demanded the government to reduce the burden of high tax on the sector in order to increase the penetration of services to guarantee the revenues and employment generation.

The tax rate on cellular industry is not only higher amongst all different sectors of Pakistan but it is also comparatively huge as compared with different countries of the region including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Indonesia etc.

It is also significantly higher when compared to other industries locally (19.5% for Cellular Industry vs. 16% for most other industries).

The tax rate on cellular sector has reached 31 percent in Pakistan whereas in other countries cellular taxes range between 10 to 15 percent. The FED on cellular services which is received in the mode of GST stands at 19.5 percent compared with 17 percent on different sectors.

The withholding tax rate on telephony services collected as advanced tax are set at 11.5 percent, which is maximum of 6 percent on rest of the sectors. Besides, the activation tax of Rs. 250 on each new connection is additional burden on all cellular companies.

The tax rate on cellular sector is a case of severe discrimination and should be brought down to a comparable industry level, Zafar Usmani, Chief Operating Officer Zong said.

The cellular industry in Pakistan is already an overly taxed sector, which pays double taxes as compared with other countries of the world, he said.

"If you look at the industry's growth, it is not what it used to be and if we want to see another boom in the telecom sector we need to have lower taxes", COO Zong suggested the government.

Minimizing the cost burden of operators who are willing to serve large areas could enable the rural populace to become a part of the mobile revolution at a faster pace and with greater ease.

The cellular companies are inclined to explore outside this framework as the market in urban and semi-urban areas is nearing saturation. This means going into low density geographical locations where revenue expectation and subscribers per cell site is much lesser making them a low revenue/low margin proposition. At the same time, it is very important to bring the critical mass residing in rural areas on board as these are the ones that stand to benefit most from cellular penetration.

Taxes on Telecom Services in Region

Source: GSM World

"Telecom companies, which are operating in highly competitive environment, have worked hard to make service affordable for masses of the country however, increased taxation negatively impacts the service cost, which has resulted in slow down in the industry", said Aamer Izhar ul Haq – Vice President Corporate Affairs & Security

"The high taxation on telephony services is amongst the factors that has been negatively impacting the growth of the industry," he said.

Telenor VP pointed out that telecom industry is the highest tax contributor and source for foreign direct investment in Pakistan. He suggested that a thriving industry will positively impact growth of the industry and will result in increased revenue generation over a longer term for the government.

Over the last few years, cellular penetration has increased significantly as the connections have already exceeded the 100 million mark. The new additions in cellular base came at a time when the market was considered saturated by most. these new subscribers are mostly from the low income group and were able to benefit from cellular technology because the activation tax was absorbed by the cellular operators in order to reduce the upfront cost to these new customers.

Moreover, there has been a lot of reduction in tariffs and call rates over the last few years to facilitate customers' usage. Various consumer centric offers to further optimize spend were also launched such as Ghanta offers, bundle offers, reactivation promotions etc.

Contrary to this, over the last few years, GST has increased from 15% to 19.5% and Advance tax was also recently increased from 10% to 11.5%. These increases in taxes limit customers' usage and reduce overall communication level of the customers.

Cellular Industry in the best interest of its customers recommends following: -

FED: FED of 19.5% applied on cellular industry only needs to be brought in line with other industries having 16% FED.
Withholding Tax (WHT): Majority of Subscribers don't fall within tax bracket, however, they are being charged WHT on each refill/airtime used.
11.5 % is the highest WHT rate on services. This may be reduced to 6 %.
Activation Tax: Activation Tax is specific to cellular industry only. This may be abolished in the best interest of general public and growth of cellular mobile industry.

Add Google +1 Button to Your Website

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:43 AM PDT

Add Google +1 Button to Your Website is a post from: ProPakistani

Google has just launched this +1 button, which will recommend your +1ed links to your friends and contacts.

Initially, +1 button is rolled out for Google.com English only, but you can experience the +1 button by joining the experiment through clicking this link.

This +1 button is taken very seriously by webmasters, as they are hoping that +1 button may start impacting search results, ultimately, though Google hasn't announced anything so far in this regard.

Get +1 Button for your website/blog:

I am sure, you can't wait to have a good looking +1 button your website/blog. For blogger users, it's already there in the default share buttons, however, WordPress users can edit their theme to get +1 button working, get the code here:

<!– Place this tag in your head tag –>

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js”></script>

<!– Place this tag where you want the +1 button to render –>
<g:plusone size=”tall”></g:plusone>

You can get other variants of buttons by altering size argument in above mentioned code, for instance:

Small +1 Button (15px): <g:plusone size=”small”></g:plusone>

Medium +1 Button (20px): <g:plusone size=”medium”></g:plusone

Standard +1 Button (24px): <g:plusone></g:plusone>

Tall +1 Button (60px): <g:plusone size=”tall”></g:plusone>

You should be able to see a +1 button here on ProPakistani too, on every page. You are encouraged to click on it and let your friends know about the content you believe is worth sharing…

Rumor: Microsoft Buying Nokia for 19 Billion Dollars

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 09:26 AM PDT

Rumor: Microsoft Buying Nokia for 19 Billion Dollars is a post from: ProPakistani

Internet is abuzz with stories of probable Microsoft-Nokia buyout – though no one has concrete information or say the official source confirming the development.

It all started when Eldar Mirtazin, a Russian blogger who is said to have deep contacts in Nokia, tweeted about a software company and phone manufacturer deal":

Microsoft Nokia Rumor: Microsoft Buying Nokia for 19 Billion Dollars

BGR, afterwards, did a story and said that software company in question is Microsoft while the phone vendor is Nokia. BGR's information was derived from Eldar's tweet as well based on his previous record of breaking Microsoft-Nokia news.

Neither Nokia nor Microsoft has confirmed the new so far.

In fact, Nokia's spokesman Mark Squires tweeted this: "We typically don't comment on rumors. But we have to say that Eldar's rumors are getting obviously less accurate with every passing moment."

nokia Rumor: Microsoft Buying Nokia for 19 Billion Dollars

Via Business Insider

Shipping Company Gets Busted for Using Pirated Microsoft Software

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 05:29 AM PDT

Shipping Company Gets Busted for Using Pirated Microsoft Software is a post from: ProPakistani

Ravian Group of Companies, a reputable name in shipping industry of Pakistan, has been raided by police, under the orders of Sindh High Court, for violating Copyright Ordinance 1962 by using pirated software on their computers.

The Ravian Group of companies are engaged in shipping, transport and logistics business and are a well established name in the shipping and transport industry in Pakistan.

In the complaint, filed by Microsoft Pakistan in Sindh High Court, it was alleged that Ravian and its affiliate companies, including its Directors and IT Manager, was violating its Intellectual Property rights, by running unlicensed Microsoft software.

Microsoft also pleaded that it had undertaken a number of steps to draw the attention of Ravian's management to the violations and to convince them to purchase licenses for the software being used in their company, but there was unfortunately no response from them to legalize their unlicensed software use.

After reviewing Microsoft's plaint, the court concluded that there was enough substance in the plaint to grant a restraining order against Ravian and its affiliate companies and also appointed the Court Nazir as Commissioner, to raid the offices of Ravian along with the support of local police and IT Experts to determine the extent of unlicensed software usage by the Defendants

According to sources, the Court Nazir found a large number of PCs, including servers and laptops, in which various unlicensed versions of Microsoft software were purportedly being run, including the Microsoft Windows Operating System and Microsoft Office suite.

The curse of software piracy is a huge issue in Pakistan. As per the results of the recently announced 2010 Piracy Study, conducted annually by Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world’s software industry and its hardware partners, and the IDC, Pakistan is rated among the top 15 countries with the highest rate of software piracy.

As per the current study, the rate of software piracy in Pakistan was measured at 84% i.e. every 8 out of 10 PCs are running unlicensed software. Contrary to general impression, medium and large scale companies are also engaged in software piracy.

Mr. Kamal Ahmed, Country General Manager – Microsoft Pakistan, says that IPR violations have been a major problem in Pakistan and send a negative signal to the global community.

"Software piracy is a huge impediment in the development of IT sector in Pakistan. The country needs stricter enforcement of IPR laws as increased use of legitimate software will result in greater investment, both by local as well as international companies.

This will generate more IT jobs, improve tax collection and lead to more IT creativity. Considering the current challenges in attracting foreign investment into Pakistan, Microsoft advocates a strong IPR-friendly environment for economic and social prosperity."

UKAID to Further Assist Easypaisa to Strengthen its Operations

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 04:38 AM PDT

UKAID to Further Assist Easypaisa to Strengthen its Operations is a post from: ProPakistani

British Secretary of State for Department of International Development (DFID), Andrew Mitchell along with Deputy Governor State Bank Yaseen Anwar visited an easypaisa outlet in Karachi today.

They were accompanied by Nadeem Hussain, CEO Tameer Microfinance Bank.

The visitors witnessed transactions being carried out at the outlet and discussed advantages of mobile financial services for financial inclusion in Pakistan.

Speaking at the occasion Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell said,

"In Pakistan more than half the adult population, and two-thirds of women, do not have bank accounts or access to financial services.

The UK supported the mobile banking with initial seed money of dollars 1 million and the use of innovative mobile phone technology is aimed to empower poor people to pay bills and transfer money to their families in rural areas and the UK will help further expand it to three million more people over the next few years," British secretary said.

Working with Tameer Microfinance Bank, UK Aid significantly contributed to the launch of mobile financial services in Pakistan.

With more than Rs. 10 billion worth of transactions, easypaisa is the premier mobile financial service of Pakistan.

Deputy Governor State Bank Yaseen Anwar appreciated the role played by UKAid and easypaisa to enable financial inclusion in the country,

"State Bank of Pakistan is committed to providing best of opportunities through an open and transparent regulatory regime which encourages more partnerships to enhance financial inclusion. State Bank of Pakistan is pleased to see branchless banking solutions bearing fruits to further strengthen the backbone of the financial sector in Pakistan".

In his comments, Nadeem Hussain, President & CEO Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited appreciated the encouragement by Secretary of State and Deputy Governor State Bank and said:

"Enabling regulatory environment and international donor support are cornerstones for success of mobile financial services in Pakistan. Easypaisa's ever increasing penetration coupled with our commitment to introduce more valuable services under the portfolio will go a long way towards making the dream of financial inclusion a reality".

Scam: MNP Requests Being Processed Without Customer’s Consent

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 02:26 AM PDT

Scam: MNP Requests Being Processed Without Customer’s Consent is a post from: ProPakistani

angry customer phone 300x198 Scam: MNP Requests Being Processed Without Customers Consent Have you ever heard of an instance when a customer’s SIM get blocked or in-active, and when contacted the service provider – he/she is confidently told that mobile phone connection has been ported out to other network?

Yes, I have seen such several cases – and here’s one of them;

One day, my friend's Zong SIM suddenly stopped working, when inquired from Zong’s service center they told him that his SIM has been ported out to Mobilink network upon his request; which he had never made.

My friend was obviously shocked to hear this because he had never sent any MNP request at Mobilink’s end, neither he had any plans in past or in the near future for doing so.

Poor and helpless – my friend went to Mobilink service center where he was told that his number was ported to Mobilink network, however they didn’t know who took his new SIM card, “now what you can do is – get a SIM replacement against your newly ported-in number and that’s it”, he was told by Mobilink service center.

This is one of those rare stories where mobile connections are ported to other networks without customer’s consent or even without their knowledge.

Here is how it happens:

Upon investigating the issue, and after discussing it at least a dozen officials, franchise dealers and mobile phone customers (who were victim of this), we have concluded following:

There are SMS messages being sent from unknown mobile numbers to cellular users which say

“You have won free balance of Rs 1000, to get your prize kindly send an SMS writing MNP to 667 and forward incoming message to our number 03XXXXXXXXX”

When a customer follows above steps to gain free mobile credit prize, receiver telecom operator quickly processes customer’s MNP application (of course with incomplete details i.e. no customer signatures).

I personally myself received such MNP scam messages which was intending me to port-out my numbers to other networks.

I don’t know whom to report, as obviously cellular operators would know this (and for fact I can confirm that they know of such activities), so the only authority left is PTA – which is so busy in counting the number of SIMs that i can’t see anything else happening in the market.

Jazz Customers Win Gold Coins

Posted: 01 Jun 2011 01:27 AM PDT

Jazz Customers Win Gold Coins is a post from: ProPakistani

A while ago, Jazz launched an attractive and rewarding "Chota Bundle Offer" for Jazz customers. The Chota Bundle offers 7 minutes of talk time and 30 SMS per day to all Jazz customers. The exciting part is that all those Jazz customers who subscribe to this offer could get a chance to win 10 Grams of Gold.

Just Recently, Mobilink Jazz announced as many as 30 lucky Jazz customers across Pakistan who won 10 Grams of Gold each.

Special prize distribution ceremonies are now being conducted in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to present all these winners with 10 Grams of Gold each.

At the prize distribution ceremony held in Islamabad, one of the lucky winner Mrs. Abid Rana expressed;

"I have been using Jazz for last 7-8 years and I am extremely happy that Mobilink is rewarding its loyal customers with such amazing prizes.

When I found out that I have won the gold coin, I was ecstatic! I am definitely going to continue participating in Mobilink campaigns in future too."

Following are pictures of few of winners:

Ufone Congratulates Pakistan A Team

Posted: 31 May 2011 10:15 PM PDT

Ufone Congratulates Pakistan A Team is a post from: ProPakistani

Pakistan doesn't lack in sports plus when it comes to cricket then I must say that it is the craze of Pakistani people.

Recently there happened a tournament in which Pakistan A team played against Afghanistan.

Sohail Tanvir was leading the Pakistani squad. The series consisted of three matches that took place in various cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.

The great news is this that Pakistan has taken away this series by 3-0, while the guest team had to head back without a single win.

Ufone, one of the sponsors, presented various rewards to both the teams. Ufone congratulated the Pakistan A team upon winning of this Pak-Afghan series.

On the award giving ceremony, Mr Abdul Aziz, CEO Ufone gave the prizes to the successful players.