Cellular companies paid Rs37.8b in taxes over last three years

Mobilink paid the most tax, followed by Zong, Telenor, Ufone and Warid

ISLAMABAD: Five cellular companies have paid Rs37.8 billion in taxes to the government over the last three fiscal years.

In a written reply to the Senate, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar informed  lawmakers that Mobilink paid Rs11.1 billion, the highest of any cellular company. Zong paid Rs9.1 billion, followed by Telenor (Rs8.5 billion), Ufone (Rs6.9 billion) and Warid Telecom (Rs2.1 billion).

Early last month, the Punjab government imposed a 19.5% duty on mobile internet services, a year after the Sindh government imposed a similar duty on its consumers.

Also last month, the Sindh government in its budget for fiscal year 2016 proposed to slash general sales tax (GST) on telecom services by 1.5% in an effort to gain public approval.