A claim circulating on social media suggests that the new Finance Bill allows mobile phone registration taxes under the PTA’s Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) to be paid through monthly installments. However, no such facility has been implemented so far.
Although discussions have taken place regarding a possible installment-based payment mechanism for PTA device registration taxes, neither the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) nor the relevant government authorities have introduced any operational framework for such a system.
Currently, there is no official notification from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Ministry of Finance, or PTA confirming that mobile registration taxes can be paid in installments. Therefore, claims that the Finance Bill has already approved and activated this facility are inaccurate.
Under the existing DIRBS regulations, all applicable duties and taxes must be paid in full before a mobile device can be registered and activated on local networks. Device approval is only granted after complete payment of the required amount.
Any future move toward an installment-based payment model would require formal amendments to relevant regulations, official notifications from the concerned authorities, and technical updates to the DIRBS platform. None of these requirements have been announced or implemented to date.
Until an official policy is introduced, the current system of upfront payment for PTA mobile registration taxes remains unchanged.
