Minister of State / Chairman, Board of Investment assures full support to Chairman Telenor Group

According to a press release issued by Telenor Pakistan, Mr. Saleem H. Mandviwalla, Minister of State / Chairman, Board of Investment (BOI) held a detailed and interactive session with a 5 member delegation of Telenor Group which was headed by Mr. Harald Norvik, Chairman Telenor Group. Senior management of Telenor including Mr. Sigve Brekke, Head of Asia, Telenor Group, Mr. Jon Eddy Abdullah, CEO Telenor Pakistan and Mr. Aamir Ibrahim, Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Affairs Division, Telenor Pakistan.

Mr. Mandviwalla noted that Telenor is now a flagship company of Pakistan which has captured a sizable market share within a very short period of time through their operations in the country, and lauded Telenor Group for recognizing the potential in the cellular market of Pakistan and investing a significant amount of US$ 2 billion in this sector. The delegation called on Chairman BOI to discuss various issues regarding the current tax rate situation in Pakistan.

Telenor Group argued that the current GST for telecom companies is higher than any other sector amounting to 19.5% and an introduction of value added tax (VAT) in this sector would reduce this rate and help telecom companies in the country to focus in other areas of investment. Mr. Ibrahim mentioned that currently telecom sectors contribute approximately Rs. 120 billion in advance tax and GST to the Government of Pakistan. He also stated that just recently the Cabinet resolved the Access Promotion Contribution (APC) issue and have allowed a 2-2.5 cent APC which is still less than 5 cents which is provided to PTCL even though most access has been given by cellular companies in the country. Most people do not even have a landline to their name and are solely dependent on their cellular phones.

Mr. Abdullah noted that the decision on APC will allow Telenor to reinvest and help them to focus on expansion in untapped areas and municipalities in Pakistan. He further mentioned that currently only 30-40% of areas are covered in Pakistan and currently 60-70% population is a subscribed with a cellular network. Therefore there is a tremendous opportunity to introduce cellular services in remote areas of Pakistan. The noted that Balochistan proposes a tremendous opportunity, if the Government can provide adequate facilities and security to telecom companies in the province. Mr. Bekke noted that the only way the telecom industry will achieve further growth is if telecom companies and the Government work in tandem.

The notion that the telecom sector is stagnant was negated by CEO Pakistan, and he stated that there is still room for expansion in Pakistan and Telenor sees a growth potential of 15-20 million customers to its existing customer base of 95 million. Mr. Abdullah also noted that since their establishment in Pakistan, Telenor has not repatriated a single dollar as they believe in a long term investment perspective and have reinvested all their earnings back in to Telenor Pakistan. He praised the working of the Universal Service Fund (USF) and how it has helped to streamline bidding processes for broadband, fiber and GSM contracts for under served and un-served areas of Pakistan.

In the end Mr. Norvick appreciated the Board of Investment’s guidance and assistance during their set up and throughout their tenure in Pakistan. He stated that the meeting and productive discussion at the Board of Investment has provided him with an increased understanding about the investment climate in Pakistan and some of the challenges such as inflation, energy shortages and specifically taxation regime. He reiterated Telenor Group’s strong commitment to Pakistan and in the development of the Pakistani telecommunications industry for the good of the Pakistani people. He also stated that he was impressed with the results that Telenor Pakistan has delivered and is also one of the best performing companies within Telenor Group itself. Mr. Norvick stated that this was due to the presence of a dedicated management and a skilled workforce that has made their Pakistani operation world class.

Mr. Saleem H. Mandviwalla assured the Telenor Group that they will voice their concerns of taxation with the concerned authorities and facilitate and assist them in every possible way. He praised Telenor’s commitment in Pakistan and appreciated their expansion plans in the country.

Youtube is back in Pakistan

Finally!! i was desperately looking for youtube these days. Not because of accessing offensive content actually, but a lot of my tasks were pending because of this. I had to look for few videos, desings and few clips for some wedding preparations in the family.

Apart from this, i think Youtube is a little relief in the sense that when you get bore at work, you can find interesting videos there. Though sometimes it is a little distractor too, but only in case if you start your day by logging onto this at first.

Anyhow, its good to see Youtube back in Pakistan. I hope Facebook would soon be back too, or may be we will get another local social networking tool by the same time. Nobody knows :)

Happy Surfing Everyone!!

Facebook and Youtube would be back in Pakistan

Just heard from Twitter that Facebook and Youtube would soon be back in Pakistan. I don't know its good and bad, but a lot of social networking addicts are very happy for this news.

The point to discuss here is that are we realy dependent on online social mediums for social networkings? Do we really think it is important for us as air and water? If it is, i wonder what we are going to give our next generation.

Please share your feedback, i am conducting a research survey these days to understand the impact of these social networking tools on our lives. I will share your comments and will update you with the results of this survey soon :)

Keep posting!!

Back to Work!!

Only an hour and few minutes left in office timings and it seems like this is my last day at work today :P For no reason, but i seriously do not why.

Anyhow, first of all i apologize for getting back to this hobby after a long long time. I have been away for quite long i suppose, may be 3 or 4 months. I thank all of you for keep reading and commenting which i approved today :P

The reason why i was away was my tough routine, few committments and studies. But now i have realised that i should live my life independently. May be i ll quit few of my activities in few days but i am damn sure that i will not quit this hoby now. So lets wait and watch.

By the way keep posting and motivating me :) Your feedback work as a fuel for me :)