Mobile users in Pakistan will not be able to download the Google Play store services from December 01, 2022, when the State Bank of Pakistan revoked its payment of $34 million to international service providers.
Starting December 01, 2022 mobile users in Pakistan won’t be able to install Google Play services from the app store.
With the suspension of the Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) mechanism, $16 million in payments to international service providers through mobile carriers is stuck on hold.
Pakistan is one of the first countries to start mandating all transactions through credit cards or debit cards only. This includes both WhatsApp and Google, but purporting that the credit card facility is limited to a certain number of customers means that the majority of mobile users in the country may be deprived from using apps from Google Play Store.
The original sentence is unclear due to unbalanced phrasing.
On Friday, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, four cellular mobile operators (CMOs) and the State Bank of Pakistan sent a joint letter to the central bank asking for reversal of its decision.
A source has confirmed to the News that Google services such as downloading apps will no longer be active. Their services were terminated due to outstanding payments. They also conveyed to relevant authorities that the outstanding balance was due, so their services for downloading apps would not be available anymore if it wasn’t cleared.
The four major mobile operators sent a joint letter to the government on how important the telecom industry is, along with other significant contributions such as taxes, duties and other levies.
The role of the telecom sector in expanding the agenda of Digital Pakistan cannot be ignored. The telecom sector has a critical role to play when it comes to improving economic, social, and cultural sectors in the country. Ethical and trustworthy leadership is essential for a digital transformation.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology revoked the designation of telecom operators earlier this year. They ordered that any requests for IT certification to be submitted to SBP on a case-to-case basis instead. The operators said they were facing severe delays in getting approvals, which led to disruption of critical services, and even caused them problems as they support the company in managing IT functions and digital infrastructure internally and servicing its customers’ billing etc. with whatever software they needed.
There is a heavy reliance on international service providers in the Pakistani digital economy, as well as licenses required for services or platforms, safety features and technical expertise.
As the pace of change continues, those who believe they can survive without adopting new methods or new ideas will soon discover that there is no chance to have success without changing. As this timeline’s events unfold, certain companies will experience their profits dwindling, and are at a risk of discontinuing their services due to not being able to continue with business as usual. This may be felt in sectors such as telecom and internet usage and digital apps which require cloud infrastructures. Beyond these major disruptions in technology, many other channels supporting overall marketing campaigns will also be impacted by these events.
“Any potential outage of such digital services due to non-payments would create a lot of negativity in the world about Pakistan,” stated the letter. “The country continues on the path of development and lending a hand in making this happen should be taken into consideration.”
It is pertinent to mention here, that everyone agrees with the pain of the country’s current financial crisis. We want to work with a regulator in an amicable manner and continue working together through the tough times. In fact, we already have experience collaborating on transactions related to telecommunication imports.