The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) said on Sunday that cell phones and mobile internet was an important tool to reduce poverty therefore policymakers should consider providing relief to telecom industry reeling under heavy taxation. Around 75 percent population in SAARC region was using mobile phones except Nepal where 82 percent population was subscribing the service, said ICCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh.
He said Pakistan lagged behind in financial outreach as only 10.30 percent population had a bank account while the SAARC average stands at 33 percent and average of other developing nations is at 41 percent.
Sheikh said there were 130 million mobile subscribers in Pakistan out of which around 18 million were using mobile internet. The unbanked could be reached and provided financial services if the telecom and internet taxes were reduced as the services of microfinance sector leaves much to be desired, he added.
Chairman Coordination FPCCI Malik Sohail said, according to the figures released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the contribution of telecom industry under the head of sales tax had been reduced to 45.8 billion rupees in 2014-15 as compared to Rs 60.1 billion in 2013.14.
Similarly, contribution in custom duty, withholding tax and other taxes, fees etc. fell from 78.6 billion rupees to Rs73.5 billion. The public exchequer received a total of Rs 126.3 billion as compare to 243.3 billion which is alarming.
Sohail said that investment in telecom sector fell from 1.8 billion dollars to 852 billion dollars which was having an impact on quality of service and provision of services in far-flung areas.
