Telecom contributes Rs582.95bn to national kitty

ISLAMABAD: Telecom sector, a significant  source of revenue generation, has contributed around Rs. 582.95 billion to national exchequer during last three and half years.

Major telecom contribution of Rs. 243.28 billion to national kitty was registered during year 2013-14 while year 2014-15 witnessed contribution of Rs. 126.26 billion.

Similarly, during year 2015-16, telecom sector contributed Rs. 159.65 billion while first two quarters of 2016-17 Rs. 53.76 billion.

Sources at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday said the contributions comprised all PTA's receipts including Initial and Annual License Fees, Annual Radio Frequency Spectrum, Spectrum Administrative Fee, Universal Service Fund (USF) and Research & Development Fund Contributions, APC for USF, Numbering Charges, License Application fee etc. The others included Custom Duties, With Holding Tax (WHT) and other charges.

The sources said the commercial launch of 3G and 4G services has opened new opportunities for revenue generation for the mobile operators.

Availability of 3G and 4G services has enabled development  of new applications and database services, and people of Pakistan are quickly adapting to these new technologies and services.

Moreover, the sources said there has also been a consistent growth in Information Technology (IT) remittances over last decade at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 23 per cent. There has been an impressive growth approximately 97 percent in IT remittances over last four years. Hence, Pakistan's IT exports are estimated to have crossed $ 2.8 billion a year at present as per estimation standard of Bearing Point. Annual domestic revenue is  around $ 500 million. Total revenue of IT industry is estimated to be around $ 3.3 billion a year at present.