Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has issued the instructions to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to launch the internet package at the affordable rates for the people and students during Coronavirus outbreak. PTA Instructions to ISPs Launching Rs600 Internet Package.

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During the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, people are staying at home and they are working from home on the internet and the students are also on vacation as their schools, colleges and universities are also closed. The package up to Rs.600 with extended limit will help them to complete the work from homes and the students will attend their online classes and their study will not be affected. The PTA issued the directives that the ISPs launch the packages with w Mbps speed and with the monthly limit of 40 GB at the same price range.

The ISPs will be granted exemption from federal advance income tax and provincial service tax on internet and no action will be taken on reducing import and regulatory duties on telecom hardware. When owners of ROW use the strict tactics against operators and extort money, no action will be taken against them. They will also be exempted from various other taxes, as the detail is shown in the PTA notification.

PTA will also abolish PTA regulatory fee, USF and Ignite contribution for one year. The government received billions of telcos for USF and Ignite contributions, which were diverted to federal consolidated fund at the time of doing violation of Telecom Act. According to notification, the cost of wholesale internet bandwidth of upstream provided will be reduced from $2.5 per Mbits per month to $.5 Mbits per month and it is delinked with USD so that they get 50 to 1000 Mbps speed broadband at the reasonable rates.