Pakistan Telecommunication Authority will take stern action if any mobile phone company raises tariff without following laid down mechanism, said the PTA chairman. The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication Monday observed that there was a piece of news that mobile phone companies had raised tariffs after restoration of taxes by the Supreme Court. Screenshots of the PTA website indicating tariff increases are being shown on social media.
The committee, which met here with Senator Rubina Khalid in the chair, also observed that thousands of mobile phones were being smuggled through the same IMEI numbers. Responding to committee members' concern, the chairman PTA said tariffs were being increased through a proper mechanism and after discussions. Recently, no tariffs have been increased.
He further said the consumer got air time of Rs 60 on a card of Rs 100. After the restoration of taxes by the Supreme Court, the consumers are feeling that SMS and voice call tariffs have been increased but this is not reality. He assured the committee that show cause notices would be issued to the mobile operators if any of them increases tariffs and violates mechanism.
Rubina Khalid said there were factories of rumours which needed to be eliminated, as many rumours surfaced about anti-polio campaign as well. The committee also reviewed the import duty on mobile phones. The committee was informed that the matter related to Federal Board of Revenue. The committee sought written response from the authorities concerned in the next meeting on the issue of smuggling of thousands of mobile phones with the same IMEI numbers.
The committee was further informed that there were only 15 investigators in the Cyber Crime Wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to deal with 28,000 cases. It was revealed that the FIA Cyber Crime Cell consists of 114 persons, whereas only 15 cyber investigators are present. The committee chairperson asked 28,000 inquiries are currently pending in the cell and how only 15 officials can deal with them.
She said, "The progress [of the cell] on cases pertaining to the dark web is unsatisfactory." The senator said the standing committee had already forwarded its recommendations regarding the Cyber Crime Cell. The chairperson directed FIA to present the report on implementation of the committee's recommendations in the next session.
On April 11, a major hacking scandal, which is said to be the biggest in Pakistan, had been unearthed where stolen data of various female students of Punjab University (PU) was sold out on dark web. The latest revelations raised eyebrows of many regarding measures taken by cyber security units working across the country to curb such criminal activities on worldwide web. The FIA cyber crimes circle had also initiated a thorough investigation into the matter.
Rehman Malik said that even location cannot be traced with such small number of officials. He further said why a specific hardware, worth Rs 500 million, is not being procured. He further said that even 25 percent of hardware installed at gateways are not functioning. It is necessary to procure new hardware to stop cases, he added.
The ministry also briefed the committee on Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects for next fiscal year 2019-20, while saying that a total of 23 schemes are proposed out of which 8 are ongoing schemes and 15 are new. A total demand of Rs 16,475 million has been made against these schemes with Rs 9,814 million for new schemes and Rs 6,661 million for ongoing schemes.
The committee was further informed that Special Communication Organisation (SCO) has proposed projects worth Rs 3 billion while IT Park, NITB and PSEB have projects worth Rs 1 billion. Optic fibre from Khanjerab to Rawalpindi has been activated, besides while there are also 5-6 submarine cables. The capacity of new optic fibre is very much but consumers are still using submarine cable. The committee members questioned how much fibre optic under the CPEC is beneficial for general public.
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