Tech

What’s happening with Google Play Store for Pakistani users?

Published

2 years ago

Farwa

SBP suspends payment of $34m to int’l service providers.
Users will have to download Google, int’l apps through credit cards, debit cards.
Authorities concerned request central bank to reverse its decision.

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan has suspended a payment of $34 million to international service providers after which mobile users will not be able to download Google Play Store services from December 01, 2022, The News reported Saturday.

The direct carrier billing (DCB) mechanism was discontinued by the central bank after which a payment of $34 million on an annual basis through mobile companies to international service providers, including Google, Amazon and Meta, got stuck.

Pakistani customers will now be forced to download Google and other international apps for making payments through credit cards or debit cards only. But the credit card facility is limited to a certain number of customers, so the majority of mobile users may be deprived of downloading apps from Google Play Store.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and four cellular mobile operators (CMOs) unanimously wrote a joint letter to the SBP on Friday, making a request to reverse its decision of revoking the DCB mechanism for payment of dollar fee keeping in view the liquidity crunch being faced by the country.

Top official sources confirmed to The News that Google services such as downloading apps will be unavailable. They conveyed to relevant authorities that the outstanding payment of $34 million was due, so their services for downloading of Google App Store will no more be available if the outstanding amount was not cleared.

The four mobile operators sent a joint letter to the government, stating that the telecom industry is one of the biggest contributors to foreign direct investment along with other significant contributions in the form of tax, duties and other levies.

The role of the telecom sector in expanding the agenda of Digital Pakistan cannot be ignored. Pakistan’s digital transformation is intended to benefit all social and economic sectors and thus needs engagement and facilitation from all stakeholders.

The State Bank of Pakistan revoked the IT designation of telecom operators months back. It was further advised to route cases to SBP on a case-to-case basis for subsequent approval. Consequently, the mobile operators stated that they were facing severe delays in getting approvals, resulting in disruption of critical services as they support the company in managing IT and digital infrastructure to meet all operational requirements internally and servicing its customers billing management, fraud management software, Office 365, robotics automation software and software developers as well as payments related to digital advertising on big IT platforms.

The digital economy in Pakistan has a heavy reliance on international service providers for hosting on cloud platforms, licenses required for services/platforms, security features and in many cases technical expertise to upskill the local workforce to meet international standards.

All the major players like Google, Amazon and Meta, are being impacted because of non-payment and are most likely to discontinue their services the impact of which will be reflected in terms of telecom and internet users being unable to fulfil their needs from digital platforms including digital banking, e-Commerce, e-Education, e-Health that uses cloud infrastructure and gets licenses for both applications as well as web-based platforms that are being badly impacted.

Distribution and monetisation of digital platforms will become extremely challenging considering the lack of distribution support and interest from the market leaders like Google, Amazon, and Apple representing Facebook. Digital marketing is the most effective channel for all brands, products and services will shrink drastically or become unavailable, thus, impacting brands, services and products beyond the digital space.

“Any potential outage of such digital services due to non-payments would create a lot of negativity in the world about Pakistan in this age of social media and should be avoided at any cost,” stated the letter.

The letter concluded: “It is pertinent to mention here that we all understand the prevailing challenge of worsening economic conditions of the country and thus are open to working in an amicable way with the Regulator (SBP); as we are already working with them in case of the telecom sector imports related transactions to navigate through these testing times.”

Latest News

Bitcoin makes its first breach of $94,000.

Published

2 days ago

Farwa

As news broke that Donald Trump’s social media company was in negotiations to acquire cryptocurrency trading platform Bakkt (BKKT.N), Bitcoin surged to a record high above $94,000, adding to optimism that the next Trump administration would be cryptocurrency-friendly.

This year, Bitcoin, the largest and most well-known cryptocurrency in the world, has more than doubled in value. Just before the close of the previous session, it reached a record high of $94,078 before closing at $92,104 in Asian hours on Wednesday.

According to the Financial Times, which cited two persons with knowledge, NYSE-owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE.N) is supporting Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT.O), opens new tab, which runs Truth Social, in its pursuit of an all-stock purchase of Bakkt.

In addition to traders taking advantage of the first day of options trading on the Nasdaq over BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT.O), Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, stated that the Trump deal chatter had helped push bitcoin to a record high.

As traders hoped that President-elect Trump’s pledged support for digital assets would result in a less stringent regulatory framework and give bitcoin a boost after a sluggish few months, cryptocurrencies have surged since the U.S. election on November 5.

According to data and analytics aggregator CoinGecko, the global cryptocurrency market is now worth over $3 trillion, a new high, due to the growing excitement.

Australian online broker Pepperstone’s head of research, Chris Weston, stated that there is genuine underlying purchasing pressure on bitcoin and that “another kick higher should bring in a fresh chase from those who like to buy what’s strong.”

Latest News

The PTA discloses how many VPNs are registered in Pakistan.

Published

3 days ago

Farwa

Speaking at the Senate Standing Committee on IT meeting in Islamabad, which was presided over by Palwasha Khan, was the PTA chief.

The continuous regulation of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) in Pakistan was the main topic of discussion. The committee called for the next meeting and voiced concerns about the Minister of State for IT’s absence for the third consecutive session.

“We have spent the last two years developing VPN legislation. Uninterrupted internet connection is guaranteed by registered VPNs without sacrificing privacy, according to the PTA chairman.

During the session, Senator Muhammad Humayun criticized the measures, saying, “Shutting down platforms like X (formerly Twitter) is jeopardizing the entire IT industry and impacting the livelihoods of over 2.5 million individuals in Pakistan.”

He opposed laws that would hurt independent contractors and small companies.

Although the PTA promised that registered VPNs would not experience internet outages, committee members wanted to know the exact legal foundation for these regulations. Senator Kamran Murtaza asked for documents that detailed the requirements for registration.

“If VPN services are abruptly halted, there will be a major backlash,” Senator Afnan Ullah said. While pointing out that Pakistan’s IT exports had increased by 20% in the previous year, he emphasised that the sector was still lagging behind India.

Concerns over the viability of the existing VPN whitelist method were voiced by the committee. While IT officials admitted that more than 1 million freelancers in Pakistan rely significantly on VPNs for their business, Senator Humayun pointed out that the laws should be more beneficial than harmful.

Latest News

Pakistan declares AI chatbots to be dangers to security.

Published

1 week ago

Farwa

The National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has released a security advisory concerning the increasing utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, emphasizing potential hazards related to the exposing of private data.

The recommendation recognizes that AI chatbots, like ChatGPT, have gained significant popularity for personal and professional duties owing to their capacity to improve productivity and engagement. Nonetheless, the CERT cautions that these AI systems frequently retain sensitive information, so posing a danger of data breaches.

Engagements with AI chatbots may encompass sensitive information, such as corporate strategy, personal dialogues, or confidential correspondence, which could be compromised if inadequately safeguarded. The warning emphasizes the necessity for a comprehensive cybersecurity framework to alleviate concerns associated with AI chatbot utilization.

Users are advised against inputting critical information into AI chatbots and are encouraged to deactivate any chat-saving functionalities to mitigate the danger of unwanted data access. The CERT additionally advises performing routine system security checks and employing monitoring tools to identify any anomalous behavior from AI chatbots.

Organizations are urged to adopt rigorous security protocols to safeguard against possible data breaches resulting from AI-driven interactions.