Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday asked Pakistan Telecommun-ication Authority (PTA) and Ministry of Information Technology to hold auction for the remaining 3G and 4G licences as the government has budgeted the revenue earning from both for the current financial year. Dar stated this while addressing a contract signing ceremony of Universal Service Fund (USF) with Telenor and Ufone. USF entered contracts worth Rs 8.76 billion with Telenor and Ufone to provide basic telephony and data services to the population in yet un-served Shangla, Zhob and Sibi "lots.
Shangla lot (contract worth Rs 1.95 billion) comprises Swat, Shangla and Buner districts, Zhob lot (contract worth Rs 3.61 billion) consists of areas in Musakhel, Zhob and Sherani districts and Sibi lot (contract worth Rs 3.2 Billion) comprises Barkhan, Sibi, Killa Saifullah and Loralai districts. The minister said that two years back the country''s economy was on the verge of collapse and international financial institutions had put breaks on joint ventures with Pakistan. However, due to sound economic policies of the government, Pakistan has turned into an attractive destination for FDI and a stable economy in just two years, which is also being recognised by international financial institutions.
The load shedding crisis in the country would be overcome by December 2017, however the government envisages increment in GDP growth rate that will multiply demand for energy, said Dar, adding that on one hand the government has cut non-development expenditure by 30-40 percent and on the other increased development expenditure. In 2013, development expenditure was recorded at $3 billion while it is expected to reach $7 billion in ongoing fiscal year. The country''s forex reserves stand at $18.5 billion, a record high and all international rating agencies hold the country economy in high esteem, Dar added. He further stated the government has decided to conduct a population census in March-April next year.
He urged all the political parties to sign a charter of economy and not politicise economic issues. There is no exception with respect to accountability and government envisions transparency in every project. Dar said the government is keen to see IT sector attaining even greater heights in future. He added that it is Prime Minister''s objective to pursue sound and equitable economic policies that will put Pakistan on the path of sustainable economic development and to achieve this, support to Ministry of IT will be provided in all initiatives. He urged telecom companies to effectively invest in the country and increase their participation in projects of pubic-private partnership.
The minister said that commodities prices went down globally, however, the Prime Minister would announce further relief for farmers Tuesday (today). State Minister for IT & Telecom, Anusha Rahman said that rural telephony projects would take state of the art telecom services including 3G and Broadband to far flung underserved areas at a rapid pace to bring them at par with urban areas of the country.
These three contracts are part of overall policy decision of the government for providing rural telephony services to underserved/un-served areas-Shangla project worth almost Rs 2 billion is already executed whereas Kalat and OFC in KPK for over Rs 3 billion is in the pipeline. She added that these projects would improve the lives of people, create job opportunities and particularly empower females. She added that such initiatives would ensure ubiquitous development across the length and breadth of the country. The minister said that with the withdrawal of ICH policy, a drastic reduction has been registered in grey trafficking. Before the ICH policy, white minutes coming to the country were 2 billion which dropped with the introduction of this policy. However after the withdrawal of the ICH policy the white minutes reached to 1.4 billion and likely to reach 1.8 billion minutes soon.
The minister further said that IT ministry has become paperless as E-office is being introduced. In the initial phase, the E-suite would be introduced in 13 ministries and in a period of two years, it would be expanded to all ministries. The minister further said that a Korean team has reached Pakistan to conduct feasibility study of first ever IT Park in the country. The Exim Bank of Korea would finance the project with $320 million, she added.
Faisal Sattar CEO USF signed contracts of Shangla and Zhob with Deputy CEO - Telenor, Irfan Wahab Khan and contract of Sibi with Abdul Aziz, CEO-Ufone. Chairman-PTA Dr Syed Ismail Shah was also present on the occasion. CEO-USF Faisal Sattar informed the audience that through the rural telecom project in Shangla lot, an un-served population of more than 0.8 million people in 154 muzas (villages) will benefit from the project, in Zhob lot, an un-served population of more than 0.4 million people residing in 330 muzas and in Sibi lot an un-served population of almost 0.5 Million in 505 muzas will benefit from the services.
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