Google Play Store services to stop working in Pakistan from next month?

The reports circulating on social media platforms that Android users in Pakistan would not be able to get Google Play Store services beginning on December 1, 2022, are untrue.

According to the details, the SBP suspended Direct Carrier Billing (DCB). Therefore, the payment of $34 million to overseas service providers like Google, Amazon, and Meta, has been frozen.

According to IT Minister Ameenul Haque, mobile users in Pakistan won’t be able to use paid services via the Google Play Store after the SBP suspended $34 million in payments to international service providers.

In this regard, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has written a letter to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, requesting him to issue directions to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to provide payments to international service providers.

گوگل ایپلی کیشن کی بندش/امین الحق کا بیان

وزیر خزانہ معاملے کا فوری نوٹس لیتے ہوئے اسٹیٹ بینک کو ادائیگی جاری رکھنے کی ہدایت کریں. ضروری ہے کہ مستقبل میں آئی ٹی وٹیلی کام کے حوالے سے فیصلوں میں وزارت کی مشاورت لازمی شامل کی جائے.” (امین الحق) pic.twitter.com/8fVA2DGirg

— Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) November 26, 2022

On Friday, the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), the Service of Data Innovation and Telecom, and four cell versatile administrators (CMOs) consistently composed a joint letter to the SBP requesting that it rethink its choice to renounce the DCB system for the installment of the dollar charge considering the country’s ongoing liquidity emergency.