On the 1st May 2008 the PTA in Pakistan increased the tax on incoming calls and mandated that all the licensed LDI‘s in Pakistan charge calls at the wholesale rate of $0.10 per minute instead of the previous $0.025 rate. When we first announced this we had many complaints from customers that other providers were not putting up prices to the levels that the above increase dictated so we listened and we did indeed find cheaper routes and were able to reduce our rate accordingly. We have however found it increasingly hard to purchase routes that not only offer a good price but also quality and I am sad to say that one by one these routes have just disappeared and today the last of the routes at the lower prices terminated service without notice.
Quality is our number one priority and we just cannot buy the routes needed at the quality levels you expect so we are now forced once again to increase our prices. I am truly sorry that we are in this position but all I can say is that we will work hard to offer a great service at market leading rates. With this in mind we will no longer attempt to purchase Pakistan routes from anyone other than those provided by licensed LDI‘s in Pakistan. This will not only ensure that the quality is great but the person you are calling will see your caller ID.
From 23:00 UTC Saturday 21st June our rate to Pakistan for both mobiles and Landlines will be 5.6p (inc VAT) / 10.5¢.
We will continue to negotiate hard with the LDI‘s in Pakistan to get the rate down and I assure you we will pass any decreases down to you immediately.
Thank you for your loyalty.
Paul Cusack
CEO
Localphone
Update: We have once again reduced our rates to Pakistan