PTCL International Call Rates per Minute: Saudi Arabia, UAE, UK, USA and Every Common Country (2026 List)

PTCL's international call rates start at Rs 3.6 a minute for the USA, Canada, China, India and Malaysia, while Saudi Arabia costs Rs 20 to a landline and Rs 27.5 to a mobile, and the UAE costs Rs 35 either way. The UK is Rs 3.6 to a landline but Rs 30 to a mobile. All rates are before tax. The full country table, the tax on top, and the packages that include free Zone 1 minutes are below.

Plenty of homes still keep a PTCL line mainly for one thing: the weekly call to a son in Riyadh or a sister in Manchester. We read PTCL's International and Domestic Tariffs page, its Zone 1 destinations file and its tax page on 2 November 2026.

PTCL rates for the countries Pakistanis call most

PTCL charges by country and by whether the number is a landline or a mobile. Gulf mobiles cost the most of the common routes: Rs 27.5 for Saudi Arabia, Rs 30 for Qatar, Rs 35 for the UAE and Rs 60 for Oman. North America, China and India are Rs 3.6.

Some countries also have an "Others" row with a much higher rate for special prefixes. Afghanistan's numbers starting 009375 cost Rs 40, and certain Australian, Argentinian and Russian prefixes run from Rs 100 to Rs 300 a minute. Check PTCL's prefix file before a long call to an unusual number.

Tax adds about a fifth to the bill

PTCL says all international prices are exclusive of taxes. Its tax page lists 19.5% sales tax on landline telephone service in every province, plus 10% advance income tax on landline charges above Rs 1,000 a month. So a call costs roughly 20% more than the listed rate.

Here is the arithmetic for a ten minute call, using PTCL's rates and the 19.5% sales tax. These are our own sums, not PTCL's figures:

If your monthly PTCL charges cross Rs 1,000, the 10% advance income tax also applies. It is collected under section 236 of the income tax law, and PTCL says the certificate for it is on its customer portal, which you need when you file a return.

Freedom packages include free Zone 1 minutes

PTCL's Freedom landline packages include 100 to 800 international minutes to Zone 1 destinations each month. Zone 1 is the Rs 3.6 group: the USA, Canada, China, India, Malaysia, Brazil and Mexico, plus landlines in much of Western Europe and Australia.

Zone 1 does not include the Gulf. If most of your calls go to Saudi Arabia or the UAE, the free minutes will not help, and a mobile bundle may be cheaper. Compare Zong's Saudi calling bundles and the Jazz Saudi, UAE and UK call offer before you decide.

How to call abroad from a PTCL landline

Dial 00, then the country code, then the number without its leading zero. For a Saudi mobile, that is 00 966 and the nine digit number. Check the rate first, because a mobile can cost several times a landline in the same country.

1. Find the country code. Saudi Arabia is 966, the UAE 971, the UK 44, the USA and Canada 1.
2. Drop the first 0 from the foreign number if it has one.
3. Dial 00, the country code, then the rest of the number.
4. Check the per minute rate for a landline or a mobile in that country.
5. Keep long calls to Zone 1 inside your package minutes if you have a Freedom plan.

If international calling is blocked on your line, or a call fails on every attempt, register a PTCL complaint on 1218. If your family abroad has data, an internet call costs nothing beyond the data itself.

Where PTCL's two rate lists disagree

PTCL's main tariff page and its Zone 1 file do not match for Germany. The main page lists Germany at Rs 15 to a landline and Rs 50 to a mobile, while the Zone 1 file lists German landlines and numbers starting 004915 at Rs 3.6.

We could not settle which one PTCL bills. If you call Germany often, ask on 1218 and note the rate the agent quotes, or check the first bill after a short call. The same caution applies to the United Kingdom: the Zone 1 file lists only a few UK special service prefixes, while the main page shows Rs 3.6 for UK landlines.

Common questions

What is the PTCL call rate to Saudi Arabia?

Rs 20 a minute to a Saudi landline and Rs 27.5 to a Saudi mobile, before tax, on PTCL's tariff page.

How much does PTCL charge for calls to the UAE?

Rs 35 a minute to both landlines and mobiles in the UAE, before tax.

Which countries are cheapest to call from PTCL?

The Zone 1 group at Rs 3.6 a minute, including the USA, Canada, China, India and Malaysia, plus landlines in the UK, Italy, Spain, France and Australia.

Are PTCL international rates inclusive of tax?

No. PTCL says all prices are exclusive of taxes. Expect about 19.5% sales tax on top.

What is PTCL's rate for calls from a landline to a mobile in Pakistan?

Rs 3.3 a minute, effective 1 May 2026. Landline to landline is Rs 1.50 a minute, both before tax.

How we verified this

What we checked, where we read it, and what we could not confirm.

We read PTCL's International and Domestic Tariffs page, its Zone 1 destinations PDF and its taxes on PTCL services page on 2 November 2026, and the four Freedom package pages in PTCL's shop. The ten minute costs are our arithmetic. We did not place an international call, so we cannot confirm the pulse or rounding PTCL uses, and the Germany and UK differences between PTCL's two lists are unresolved.