ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, IT Minister Syed Aminul Haque said that the Ministry of Finance had agreed to devise a method for payments against the tech giant’s app services. This put an end to worries that Google would shut down its paid services in Pakistan.
As a result of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) suspension of the direct carrier billing (DCB) mechanism, it was previously anticipated that Pakistani users would no longer have access to Google Play Store services after December 1.
The majority of users won’t be able to download apps from the Google Play Store due to the limited credit card facilities because they would have had to use their bank cards to access the services.
Since the move would cause problems for customers, the telecom ministry, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), and cellular service providers approached the SBP to ask for the step’s revocation.
Notwithstanding, Pastor of Data Innovation (IT) and Telecom Syed Aminul Haque said in an explanation today that the Service of Money has consented to a proposition “with respect to developing a powerful system and making installment against the Google Application administrations”.
He insisted that “the payment would be made to Google as per the schedule and all its application services to remain intact” following the agreement.
Syed Amin Ul Haque said that the State Bank of Pakistan had been directed to delay the implementation of the Direct Carrier Billing (#DCB) policy for one month.@MIshaqDar50 @StateBank_Pak @Zongers @PTCLOfficial @GooglePlay
— Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) December 1, 2022
Additionally, he stated that the IT and finance ministries will collaborate with the SBP to determine the course of action within a month and that the central bank has been instructed to delay the implementation of the DCB policy.
The minister also stated that telecom operators had requested assistance from the IT ministry, despite being given a month to implement the new billing policy.
Amin said that on request of the Telecom operators for assistance, a letter was written to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to make the payments and formulate a time frame.
— Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) December 1, 2022
Haque also thanked Special Assistant for Finance Tariq Bajwa for acting promptly to notify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, preventing the crisis.