‘Phone calls load-shedding’:Will Pakiatan really face outages?

Islamabad: Pakistani mobile phone users are concerned after reports emerged that the country may face”phone calls loadshedding” amid prolonged electricity load-shedding.

The reports started circulating after telecommunication officials’ briefed the Senate’s Standing Committee about the situation in the telecom sector.

They said that the country might face phone call outages after a massive hike in texes.

They expressed reservations over an increase in the taxes which make imports of fiber optics costlier.

They demanded the government reduce the advance tax on the imports of fibre optics to eight per cent.

They also objected to the government’s decision to declare the import of the telecom equipment as luxurious items.

Whatever the difficulties and cost, telecom sector won’t resort to extreme steps such as phone call outages.

The reason it won’t happen is the government can’t afford to further alienate it’s supporters after taking multiple unpopular decisions like hike in petroleum and electricity prices.

The increase in power and gas tariff coupled with petroleum prices have increased the prices of essential items manifolds.