ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan has suspended payment of $34 million to international service providers, after which mobile users will not be able to download Google Play Store services from 01 December 2022.
Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) mechanism was stopped by the central bank after which mobile companies paid $34 million annually to international service providers including Google, Amazon and Meta.
Pakistani users will now be forced to download Google and other international apps to pay only through credit card or debit card. But the credit card facility is limited to a certain number of users, so a majority of mobile users may miss out on downloading apps from the Google Play Store.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and four Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) on Friday unanimously wrote a joint letter to the State Bank, asking the DC to pay the dollar fee requested to withdraw its decision to cancel the procedure. Considering the liquidity crisis facing the country
Top government sources have confirmed to JEE News that Google services like downloading apps will not be available. They informed the relevant authorities that a balance payment of $34 million was due, so if the balance was not cleared, their services would no longer be available for download by the Google App Store.
The four mobile operators sent a joint letter to the government, stating that the telecom industry is the largest contributor to foreign direct investment, along with other significant contributions in the form of taxes, duties and other levies.
The role of the telecom sector in expanding the Digital Pakistan agenda cannot be overlooked. Pakistan’s digital transformation aims to benefit all social and economic sectors and therefore requires the involvement and facilitation of all stakeholders.
The State Bank of Pakistan had canceled the IT designation of telecom operators a few months ago. It was further suggested that the cases be forwarded to the State Bank on a case-to-case basis for subsequent approval. As a result, mobile operators said they are facing severe delays in obtaining approvals, resulting in critical service disruptions as they internally build IT and digital infrastructure to meet all operational requirements. Help the company in managing and provide billing management, fraud management software, service to its customers. Payments related to Office 365, robotics automation software and digital advertising on software developers as well as major IT platforms.
The digital economy in Pakistan is heavily dependent on international service providers for hosting on cloud platforms, licenses required for services/platforms, security features and in many cases local workforce to meet international standards. Requires technical expertise.
All the major players like Google, Amazon and Meta are affected by the non-payment and are most likely to stop their services which will affect telecom and internet users unable to fulfill their needs from the digital platform. It will appear if there is. Including digital banking, e-commerce, e-education, e-health that uses cloud infrastructure and licenses for both applications as well as web-based platforms are being adversely affected.
Distribution and monetization of digital platforms will be extremely difficult given the lack of distribution support and interest from the likes of Google, Amazon and Apple representing Facebook. As digital marketing is the most effective channel for all brands, products and services will shrink drastically or become unavailable, thus, impacting brands, services and products outside the digital space.
“Any possible shutdown of such digital services due to non-payment of payments will create a very negative perception of Pakistan in the world in this age of social media and at any cost,” the letter said. But should be avoided.
The letter concluded: “It is pertinent to state here that we all understand the current challenge of deteriorating economic situation in the country and are thus willing to work amicably with the regulator (SBP); as we Already working with them on import related transactions of telecom sector to get through these trying times.
