Telcos question FBR’s SIM blocking move

The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) decision to block the mobile phone SIMs of non-filers has generated a new controversy as the telecom regulator is reluctant to comply with the directives amid pressure from the telcos. The FBR has forwarded a list of 506,671 individuals to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for blocking their mobile phone SIMs as they did not file their returns for the tax year 2023. While the PTA or the Ministry of IT and Telecom did not respond, a source in the sector told Dawn that the telecom regulator has already forwarded the list to the four cellular mobile operators (CMOs). Meanwhile, the PTCL has issued a response stating that the company was closely monitoring the recent directives from FBR regarding blocking SIMs linked to around 0.5 million CNICs related to non-tax filers.