Pakistani telecom company, Ufone has been awarded Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) spectrum by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) as a result of recently held spectrum auction. The company won the spectrum in a bid to enhance 4G customer experience across the country.
Federal Minister for IT & Telecom, Syed Aminul Haq along with Secretary IT & Telecom, Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput, Chairman PTA, Major General Amir Azeem Bajwa (Retd.) HI (M), senior officials from the ministry and PTCL Group attended the event. DG Licensing PTA, Brig. Amer Shahzad (Retd.) and President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf signed the contract.
The company plans to use the spectrum to introduce new innovative products and services and enhance its customer experience by providing high quality internet as well as to expand its existing network to unserved and underserved regions of the country.
Sharing his thoughts on spectrum acquisition, President and Group CEO, PTCL & Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf said: “It is a historic day for Ufone, as we have acquired additional 4G Spectrum in order to fully optimize our mobile data services. This will enable us to further enhance our users’ experience, expand the existing network to serve the unserved areas. Improved data experience will enable a digital transformation in education, health care, agriculture, banking and ecommerce ecosystems to name a few.” “We appreciate Government of Pakistan for executing the spectrum auction process in a seamless and transparent manner”, he further added.
Remittance inflows during August 2021 were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($694 million), United Arab Emirates ($512m), United Kingdom ($353m) and the United States ($279m).
The relief will benefit approximately 12,300 individuals who have already deposited Rs2.6 billion in taxes to the FBR on their declared assets in the year 2019. The total amount that was legalised has not been disclosed. The FBR system has been enabled for this purpose and all taxpayers can now file their declarations between Sept 10 and 25.
As many as 2,125 projects worth Rs350bn have been registered with the FBR’s online system by 1,321 persons. Out of these, 1,775 are new projects and 350 existing ones.
The builders and developers are required to get their projects registered on FBR’s computer-based IRIS software on or before June 30 this year and the projects should be completed before Sept 30, 2023.
The salient features of the package include fixed tax for builders and developers, immunity from probe and concessions from withholding of taxes. The FBR has provided all the required facilities to the beneficiaries of the package which include the establishment of a dedicated web page, dedicated email to address inquiries and an online step-by-step guide for the builders and developers.
Currency depreciation in Pakistan has always been “involuntary”. The authorities did not let the currency depreciate when an adjustment was due. The rupee was overvalued for a long time. Historically it has slipped only when the authorities were unable to control the supply of dollars any longer. Public debt has soared as a result; the foreign exchange reserves have been depleted. A strong rupee has also caused the trade and current account deficits to grow.
Under these conditions, the gains form depreciation are hard to come by. The sudden plunges in the value of the rupee cause panic, further compromising the gains. The impact of depreciation on foreign trade and related sectors depends on three broad factors. One, inflation in other countries particularly main trading partners; two, domestic prices; and three, overall macroeconomic conditions and policies, particularly during the depreciation phase.
The first two factors determine the real effective exchange rate (REER) and thereby external competitiveness. A higher external competitiveness leads to higher gains. The size of gains depends on the nature of exports and imports and the capacity to export. The third factor determines the extent to which depreciation will help boost the economic activity (thus enhancing the capacity to export). If any of these factors is missing, the potential gains from depreciation may be compromised.
The decline in trade and current account deficit was mainly supported by contraction in imports. It is because of this that no significant impact of depreciation on employment and poverty was observed. The fault does not lie with depreciation. The adverse impact of the factors highlighted above outpaced the potential gains from the depreciation.
Any assessment of impact of depreciation on exports, imports and employment must consider the overall state of economy and policies. It must account for two counterfactuals. One, what would have been the situation of exports, imports, trade and current account deficits if rupee was held at the 2017 value? Two, what would have been the gains from depreciation if rupee was allowed to adjust before the balance of payment crisis?
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