Google suspends paid services in Pakistan over nonpayment of dues
Technology
Google suspends paid services in Pakistan over nonpayment of dues
ISLAMABAD – Google has temporarily suspended the purchase of its carrier-paid apps in Pakistan via mobile phone after the central bank shut down the previous mechanism of making payments to the international service providers.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has confirmed the development, adding that users could pay for the apps through their bank cards.
The suspension of the Google Play Store’s paid services comes despite the Minister of IT Aminul Haque’s assurance that the services will continue to available to Pakistani users.
On Dec 1, Mr Haque said the Ministry of Finance had agreed to release blocked payments to international service providers including Google.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has blocked $34 million in payments to the international service providers by suspending direct carrier billing (DCB) mechanism.
The IT minister said the finance ministry had directed the SBP to release payments to the service providers as per the schedule. “The central bank has also been directed to put off the latest policy about payments for paid services of Google Play Store for one month.”
He said Telcos had also been given a month to implement the new procedure for payments in line with the instructions of the SBP.
