For long the planners failed to recognise the importance of telecommunication in the economic development. It was assigned a very low priority in the development program. It was only in 1984 at the Kanshasha ITU plenipotentiary that significance of Telecommunications in the socio-economic progress was perceived.
Consequently international financial and donor agencies started sponsoring telecommunication projects in a big way as a crucial part of development.
This was the era when the world was awakening to the diminishing state of non renewable resources. It was established by various independent studies that excessive and inequitable use of such resources was having adverse effect on the environment and was cause of rampant and ever increasing poverty in the world.
Key resources of fossil energy and fresh water are fast decreasing and may cause catastrophic consequences for the humanity if suitable mitigating steps are not taken to address the issue.
Thereof arose the concept of sustainable development which emphasises the judicious and conservative use of these perishable resources.
Creating awareness of the concerns and the consequent threat to the mankind, it was recognised early on, was the function of poverty alleviation, and delivery of health care and education to the disadvantaged sections and regions of the society.
The telecommunication thus assumed increasing importance in the milieu. Emergence of Internet impacted the situation in way undreamt of hitherto. It opened new vistas of ubiquitous availability of information, knowledge, expertise & distribution channels for marketing.
The problem was, however, that there existed wide gap of availability of digital access to the telecommunication which was prerequisite for exploiting the benefits of Information society.
This was recognised as a digital divide. The economic deprivation, it was recognised, was cause and consequence of inequitable access to the Information and Communication (ICT) facilities. The digital divide exists between North and South, between urban & rural and between genders.
The Tokyo Declaration officially recognised this disparity and called upon all the states of the world to take all the necessary measures to rectify the situation to create enabling environs for sustainable socio-economic development. As a first step ITU-T convened first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003.
Intense negotiations, spanned over a period of two years following Tokyo Declaration, in a multi-stakeholder process that included governments, intergovernmental agencies, NGOs, businesses and the media, a Declaration of Principles and an Action Plan was agreed at the Summit.
The 1100 delegates agreed on the "importance of ICTs as an essential requirement for an inclusive Information society and embraced the idea of universal, accessible, equitable and affordable ICT infrastructure & services as a key goal".
Based on internationally agreed development goals, indicative targets may serve as global references for improving connectivity and access in the use of ICTs by 2015 in promoting the objectives of the Plan of Action adopted by World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The following aspects may be taken into account in the establishment of the national targets, considering the different national circumstances:
A. Connecting villages with ICTs and establish community access points;
B. Connecting universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs;
C. Connecting scientific and research centres with ICTs;
D. Connecting public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives with ICTs;
E. Connecting health centres and hospitals with ICTs;
F. Connecting all local and central government departments and establish websites and email addresses;
G. Adapting all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the Information
H. Society, taking into account national circumstances;
I. Ensuring that all of the world's population has access to television and radio services;
J. Encouraging the development of content and to put in place technical conditions in order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet;
K. Ensuring that more than half the world's inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach.
Ministry of IT&T and PTCL have been conscious of the potential role of ICT in the development of the country from the very outset.
The present Government and especially the Minister of IT&T has been actively engaged in expanding the reach of ICT in the country.
FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF THE POLICY INITIATIVES TAKEN BY THE MINISTRY TO BRIDGE THE DIGITAL DIVIDE:
-- Proclamation of Deregulation Policies for Fixed and Mobile telephony services, in pursuant whereof process for granting licenses to new mobile, Long Distance & International (LDI) and Local Loop operators is on the anvil.
The objective is to provide affordable telecommunication services with a view to enhancing the teledensity in Pakistan which is the measure of narrowing of digital divide.
-- The Public sector Universities have been inter-linked via an educational intranet. They have as well been assisted to set up their in house ISP operations for the benefit of their student and academic community.
-- An E-Government initiative has been launched to help Federal and Provincial government departments and agencies to transact their business using internet/intranet. This provides easy access to public to access information and services rendered by the government.
-- Legal framework is being put in place to create enabling environment for E-business in consultation with all the stakeholders.
-- Promotion of IT education in Pakistan, both in terms of delivery and standardisation is being vigorously perused. Establishment of Virtual University has been done to overcome the shortage of teaching resources & delivery channels.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has been on the forefront of the government's effort to promote the ICT in the country being the incumbent provider of fixed telephony services.
PTCL has been growing its network and services at annual rate of 6 - 7%. It has been reaching more and more in the rural areas of the country to bridge the digital divide. Some of key action steps implemented by PTCL are:
-- PTCL replaced all the Analog (EMD) exchanges in its network in 2001 achieving 100% digitisation of its network. PTCL transmission network had already been digital & fibre based.
-- PTCL provides Universal Internet Access from all of its 2760 exchanges. This means delivering of internet call to the nearest ISP POP on a unit local call charge irrespective of distance and duration of the call.
This has made it possible for the customers all over Pakistan to benefit from Internet. This created enabling conditions for delivery of educational, medical & agriculture advisory and marketing services throughout the length & breadth of Pakistan.
===================
Punjab 1091
Sindh 202
NWFP 409
Baluchistan 110
-------------------
Total 1812
===================