Telenor deposited Rs4.12b for 4G licence, says Shah

PTA chairman says international roundtable conference to be held this month

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Ismail Shah has said that Telenor Pakistan has deposited Rs4.12 billion as withholding tax in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for getting a 4G spectrum licence.

At a press conference, Shah said that the licence was issued to Telenor Pakistan after receipt of no objection certificate from the FBR to mark the deposit of 10% withholding tax as a requirement to receive the 4G spectrum.

Shah said that the International Telecommuni­cation Union (ITU) and the PTA are jointly organising the “ITU-PTA Asia Pacific Regulator Roundtable” and the “ITU-PTA International Training Program (ITP) 2016”. The event will be held from 18-22 July 2016 in Islamabad.

Representatives of 23 countries from the Asia Pacific region will participate in this international event.

He said that ITU Secretary General Houline Zhao and representatives from telecom mobile operators, internet service providers, academic institutions, banks, ITC entrepreneurs and commercial companies will attend the inaugural session.

According to Shah, this is the sixth consecutive time the Asia-Pacific region took the initiative to organise the annual roundtable to provide telecommunication regulators in the region with a platform that fosters dynamic and strategic discussions as well as consultatively debate on possible solutions and opportunities for potential collaborators to address emerging regulatory issues and challenges.

In particular, the event will focus on the implications of a smart digital society for collaborative regulation. The training programme will highlight the building blocks required to ensure regulatory measures remain relevant and appropriate for the new environment.

Some of the key topics that will be taken up in training sessions is availability of broadband for networked society, digital financial inclusion and mobile apps, cyber security, consumer protection and quality of service.

The participants countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Iran, Indonesia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippine, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Timor Leste, Timor lest, Tonga, Vanuatu, Vietnam, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Kiribati.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2016.

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