Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received 23 applications for long distance international (LDI) licences and 72 for wireless local loop (WLL). PTA had already awarded LDI licences to four companies, while some other applications are still under consideration.
The authority has earned Rs 1.02 billion as initial licence fee for WLL and LDI licences. PTA Chairman Major General Shahzada Alam Malik (Retd) stated this, while talking to journalists on the sidelines of ITCN-Asia 2004 Exhibition on Tuesday.
He said that the authority was holding auction for allocation of frequency spectrum for wireless local loop operations on Wednesday with the participation of over two-dozen companies.
On the limited telecom penetration in the country, he said that the country possessed only 2.7 percent tele-density, while in rural areas it was just 0.77 percent. We decided to issue WLL licences to increase the tele-density of the country with special focus on rural and far-flung areas, he said.
Earlier, addressing at the International Conference of Information Technology (ITCIT)-2004 Federal IT and Telecommunication Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said that the IT sector had tremendous potential wherein a number of foreign companies were showing interest.
He said that due to consistent policies of the government huge investment was pouring into the country. Last year an investment of $100 million was attracted, while we were eyeing on another $1 billion investment within next year, he added.
On the privatisation of PTCL, he said that the issue would be decided in the next one or two weeks. He said that different proposals had been made pertaining to the restructuring and privatisation of the state-owned telecom company, which would be presented in a meeting with President Musharraf.
After the meeting it would be decided that either PTCL's privatisation should be held on the basis of autonomous body or after the process of restructuring.
On cyber crime, the minister said that the ministry had prepared an act, which would be presented before the cabinet for approval shortly. The law-enforcement agencies were also in close co-ordination to check on these types of crimes, he said.