Expatriates to bear the brunt as call tariffs to Pakistan rise 

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Pakistani expatriates in Oman will now have to pay more for calls back home as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) International Clearing House (ICH) policy has become operative.According to telecommunication authority sources, termination fees (fee levied on incoming calls) for long distance international (LDI) operators have increased. In Oman, VoIP call charges to Pakistan have seen a hike of 10bz per minute, rising to 100bz a minute. In the US, call rates to Pakistan that were as low as one to two cents per minute have now increased to 10 to 12 cents a minute.Dr Muhammad Saleem, director general, PTA, told Muscat Daily, ''We have implemented the decision which was taken by Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Technology. We have raised the termination fee for LDI operators from 6.25 cents to 8.25 cents. This was to overcome the problem of grey traffic (calls that do not pay taxes). There has been a tremendous amount of grey traffic in the country. Call rates will depend on various country operators.''Nawras officials said that their VoIP call rates to Pakistan recently rose from 49bz to 69bz per minute due to the rise in termination fees. Omantel and Friendi have not announced any changes in call rates to Pakistan yet.