ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Senate was informed on Friday that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has blocked 26 million unverified SIMs (subscriber identity modules) of different cellular companies under the biometric verification process.
In respond to a question in the Upper House of the Parliament, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed said that the interior ministry has taken the initiative to streamline the SIMs’ issuance process so that no one could misuse them.
Sheikh Aftab said that Cellular Mobile Operators were required to collect ‘Activation Tax’ at the rate of Rs250 per new SIM from consumers.
However, he said, the operators do not charge the tax or any other amount from their customers rather “they absorb the activation tax”.
The state minister also apprised the House that the matter of activation tax collection was currently under litigation before the Lahore High Court (LHC).
In reply to another question, Sheikh Aftab said that the government has taken a number of steps to improve performance of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). He said that the government has injected Rs16 billion as cash support and $52 million for acquiring 15 aircraft on dry lease.
Sheikh Aftab pointed out that loss making routes both international and domestic have been suspended and aircrafts are deployed on profitable routes.
