Body formed to address issues of cellular phone operators

The government has constituted a 14-member committee to address the issues of "cellular mobile operators" and formulate recommendations for onward submission to the prime minister.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has notified a high-level committee following the directives of the prime minister. The committee comprised of secretary Ministry of IT and Telecom as chairman and other members include, additional secretary IT, chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) or (representative not below member), executive director Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), director (Telecom/Wireless) committee secretary, director (Legal), chairman Telecom Sub-Task Force (TSTF), representative of the Cabinet Division (not below the rank of BPS-20), representative of Ministry of Finance (not below the rank of BPS-20), representative of Ministry of Industries and Production (not below the rank of BPS-20), representative of the Federal Board of Revenue (not below the rank of BPS-20), representative of NADRA (not below the rank of BPS-20), representative of Cellular Mobile Operators (Not below CxO/VP), any other person that this committee may wish to co-opt.
According to the notification, the terms of reference of the committee would be finalised to carry out consultations and evaluate the issues of cellular mobile operators and formulate recommendations for onward submission to the Prime Minister's Office. An official of a cellular company told Business Recorder that a major issue of the sector was high taxation. The government needs to give relief to the cellular companies in withholding and sale tax.
The MoIT&T has submitted proposal to the PM's Office for resolving issues related to double taxation of IT companies. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has also recommended to the government to bring down taxes for consumers and telecom operators for increased investments, usage of telecom services in the country as the ICT sector is overburdened with taxes.