Telecom News Bulletin

Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) has rejected the proposal for a ban on the import of used computers and IT accessories. The proposal is being considered at ministry of information technology on behest of some vested interest groups.

Munawar Iqbal, the president of PCA said that the move will benefit multinational companies dealing in new computers and increase their profits, take computers out of the range of poor students and affect livelihood of thousands of vendors dealing in used computers.

He said that at present, there is no indigenous manufacture of computers and IT equipment. All computers, used and new, are being imported. Some international companies, manufacturing computer hardware with the help of some local profit-seeker groups, had been pressing the government to impose a ban on import of used computers and IT equipment, obviously to control the local market, he added.

While terming the move as “unjust and based on malevolence”, he said his association would resist the ban at every level. He added that Pakistan was a third world country where 80 per cent consumers buy second-hand computers.

“Multinational companies are trying to get a ban imposed on import of second-hand computers to capture the market, but the government should realise that a large number of poor people cannot afford to buy a new computer costing between Rs25,000 and Rs45,000,” Munawar Iqbal said, adding that the price of a used desktop PC ranged between Rs5,000 and Rs10,000.

The ban would deprive poor students of their right to modern education and the country would lose millions of dollars in foreign exchange if the proposal was approved, he said.