Pakistan pitches ‘most relaxed tax structure’ in the world to tech investors • The Register Forums

User topics

Article topics

Log in Sign up

Other stories you might like

Internet went offline in Pakistan as protestors marched for ousted prime minister

Two hour outage 'consistent with an intentional disruption to service' said NetBlocks

Laura Dobberstein Thu 26 May 2022 // 07:56 UTC

Internet interruption-watcher NetBlocks has reported internet outages across Pakistan on Wednesday, perhaps timed to coincide with large public protests over the ousting of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The watchdog organisation asserted that outages started after 5:00PM and lasted for about two hours. NetBlocks referred to them as “consistent with an intentional disruption to service.”

Continue reading
Pakistan considers ten-year tax holiday for freelance techies

Could clean up dispute over who collects tax and when, but unlikely to worry outsourcing rivals

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Tue 25 Jan 2022 // 03:01 UTC

Pakistan’s minister for IT and Telecom, Syed Aminul Haque, has floated the idea of a ten-year tax holiday for freelancers, suggesting the move could improve the nation’s services exports.
The idea was mentioned in Pakistan's 2021 Draft Freelancing Policy [PDF] and the minister minister raised the idea again last week at a meeting of Pakistan’s Committee on IT Exports Growth, a forum whose name says a lot about what the nation hopes to achieve with the policy.
In 2020 Pakistan revealed a plan to grow tech services exports from $1.25bn to $5bn within three years.

Continue reading
In Pakistan, a car company will soon be making Samsung mobile phones

Approval has been granted by Pakistani regulatory body, meanwhile auto material costs rise putting car makers in flux

Laura Dobberstein Wed 11 Aug 2021 // 06:07 UTC

In what seems like an odd move for all involved, Pakistan's telecommunication regulator – the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) – has announced approval for Lucky Motor Corporation (LMC) to manufacture Samsung mobile devices.
The local automobile manufacturer is a joint venture between Lucky Group and South Korea's Kia Motors, and manufactures and distributes Kia cars built in a purpose-built plant in Karachi's Bin Qasim Industrial Park.
"The authorization to manufacture Samsung Mobile devices in Pakistan is a landmark achievement and will further revolutionize the vibrant mobile manufacturing ecosystem in the country by ensuring presence of major local and foreign players in the market," declared the regulator.

Continue reading
Pakistan bans TikTok, for the fourth time

Previous bans were imposed for nasty content, then lifted after promises of proper moderation. And here we are again

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Wed 21 Jul 2021 // 05:27 UTC

Pakistan has banned made-in-China social network TikTok for the fourth time, and there's no sign this one will prove any stickier than previous efforts.
A tweeted press release from the nation's Telecommunications Authority did the deed, at around 8:00AM on Thursday local time.

Continue reading
Pakistan lures '19 mobe makers' to open local factories

Hasn't said which brands have signed up, but is happy to have them make 2G and 3G kit for a decade

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Wed 26 May 2021 // 03:26 UTC

Analysis Pakistan has announced it has secured 19 cellphone manufacturers willing to work on its soil, and that their efforts will improve device affordability and availability for locals and help the nation’s prospects as a tech exporter.
An announcement from Pakistan's Telecommunication Authority doesn’t name any of the 19 chosen outfits but says they’re a mix of “foreign and local companies.”
All will be expected to promote their devices as having been made in Pakistan, in the hope of highlighting the nation’s manufacturing capabilities and encouraging local buyers to spend their money with local suppliers. The Telecommunication Authority also hopes that the 19 players' involvement will result in lower-cost phones for those in Pakistan.

Continue reading
Pakistan's tax office services go dark after migration project goes awry

Local reports suggest Microsoft Hyper-V crack was the cause, as rumours swirl of data leak

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Tue 17 Aug 2021 // 03:00 UTC

Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue – the nation's tax office – has experienced a lengthy outage after a migration project went bad, perhaps as the result of a cyber-attack.
The Board (FBR) has acknowledged that an upgrade process encountered "unforeseen anomalies" that resulted in an outage to its public-facing services from the evening of August 13th.
A subsequent update said only some Customs-related services went down, but local media report the problem was not of the FBR's making, and that the Board was attacked and all its virtual machines rendered inoperable.

Continue reading
Pakistan's tax office denies pirated software caused outage – admits it sometimes runs unsupported software

Can't keep up with software licence payments but says it's been on top of VMware payments for at least a whole year now

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 26 Aug 2021 // 02:45 UTC

Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue has stated that a recent outage of its public-facing applications was not caused by pirated software, but admitted it's not always on top of licences and some of its code may be unsupported.
Local media fingered an attack on Microsoft's Hyper-V software as the source of the mid-August outage, which the Board (FBR) attributed to a migration going pear-shaped.
An FRB update refutes those reports and says it has licences for software it uses, including in the facilities that went down.

Continue reading
Pakistan cut off Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Telegram – for just four hours

To stop protests by far-right party that wants France’s ambassador expelled

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Mon 19 Apr 2021 // 05:58 UTC

Pakistan shut down several social networks within its borders on Friday but lifted the ban after around four hours.
The nation’s Telecommunication Authority announced the ban, effective immediately, with the following explanation:

Continue reading
Pakistan's Punjab province tells citizens to get jabbed or have their SIM card blocked

Well, that's one way to do it

Matthew Hughes Fri 11 Jun 2021 // 18:29 UTC

The government of Pakistan's Punjab region has a new weapon up its sleeve in the fight against vaccine hesitancy: blocking the mobile service of anyone who refuses to get jabbed.
As reported by local newspapers , and confirmed by the Punjab health authority, those who swerve the COVID-19 vaccine may find their mobile SIM "blocked" in response.
The move has come at a crucial juncture for Punjab's vaccine rollout, with shots now available to those over the age of 18.

Continue reading
India under attack by rapidly-evolving advanced persistent threat actor SideCopy, says Cisco Talos

Gang is using custom RATs malware to target government employees, and has an interest in Pakistan, too

Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor Thu 8 Jul 2021 // 07:58 UTC

Cisco’s Talos security unit says it has detected an increased rate of attacks on targets on the Indian subcontinent and named an advanced persistent threat actor named SideCopy as the source.
The outfit on Wednesday posted that it has tracked “an increase in SideCopy’s activities targeting government personnel in India using themes and tactics similar to APT36 (aka Mythic Leopard and Transparent Tribe)”. SideCopy’s infrastructure, Talos opined, “indicates a special interest in victims in Pakistan and India,” as the malware used only initiates actions if it detects infections in those two countries.
The name SideCopy appears to have first been used by security firm Seqrite in a September 2020 analysis of previous attacks on Indian military targets. Seqrite said it has seen SideCopy activity from 2019.

Continue reading

ABOUT US

MORE CONTENT

SITUATION PUBLISHING

The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community. Part of Situation Publishing

SIGN UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER

Biting the hand that feeds IT © 1998–2022

Do not sell my personal information Cookies Privacy Ts&Cs