KARACHI: Media reports about Google Play services being discontinued in Pakistan are not entirely true as users would not only be able to download free apps but their updates as well, but won’t be able to pay for them except through debit and credit cards.
MM News’ Fact Check gathered details as to how the hype of discontinuation of Google Play services in Pakistan was created, and what was the actual news behind it.
Also read: Google Play Store services to be unavailable in Pakistan from Dec 1
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reportedly suspended $34 million in payments to international service providers such as Google and Meta, under the Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) service by telcos. This led the local media houses to believe that Google would suspend all Play Store services on December 1, 2022 because of the SBP measure, which is not entirely true.
The other alternative for such payments is Direct Carrier Billing (DCB), which involves payment using the mobile balance. DCB exists because of lack of international digital payment methods to pay for various apps.
Experts say “by linking direct carrier billing with Google Play store, freelancers are also able to pay for some tools and apps for doing their assignments.” Since these apps do not have physical presence in Pakistan, therefore, payments through any other means like vouchers or cash are not possible. Users can either pay using a Mastercard or Visa credit/debit cards or DCB. Since not all customers of mobile phones have credit or debit cards, DCB is a useful service for such customers.
Under direct carrier billing, the mobile customer pays for the app through their balance with a respective telco and the telco then remits the aggregated amount after a certain period of days as mutually agreed either directly to the apps or through intermediaries. It is this aggregated payment from telcos to international service providers like Google that the SBP has reportedly now disallowed to remit.
Experts say “any move with regards to the blocking of payments under DCB is not only going to impact the data usage of the telcos in case of gaming and entertainment apps but also will have a negative impact on the freelancers.”
It may be recalled that Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIIT), Aminul Haque, in a statement posted on the ministry’s Twitter handle, said he wrote to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to direct SBP to unfreeze the payments.
He said the decision was taken after across-the-board consultations with the stakeholders.
