Islamabad August 4, 2014  Special Report In a reaction to government decision to eliminate taxes on all international calls, telenor Pakistan has

announced to stop all international calls terminiating through international clearing house (ICH) to benefit the international callers. In a statement

issued by the company to all telecom operators has confirmed the decision as a bold step in public interest. It’s worth mentioning here that on

June 17, 2014, on Prime Minister’s directives, taxes were eliminated on all international calls. However, 11 companies including PTCL refused to

act as per new directives issued by the PM and take stay order from the court.

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ICH was created by the former government to curb gray traffic in the country and channels all the international calls through one and

integrated system instead of different gateways by all operators. With the emergence of ICH, taxes were imposed to increase national

income by US$ 600 million every year. This act has created difficulties for overseas Pakistanis and they show deep concern over ICH

were voicing against this on every forum. Large number of overseas Pakistanis has welcomed the government decision to remove ICH

and bring a new system to decrease grey telephony with low calls rates and less taxes. It is estimated that more than 10 million overseas

Pakistanis and other people calling from abroad may be the beneficiary of this step taken by the government.