Telenor Pakistan and Warid Telecom signed an interconnect agreement here on Wednesday. Telenor Pakistan President and CEO Tore Johnsen warmly welcomed Warid Telecom CEO Hamid Farooq and chief guest Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General Shahzada Alam Malik (Retd). The interconnect agreement enables Telenor Pakistan to establish direct interconnection with all the existing cellular service providers in Pakistan.
Tore Johnsen termed the agreement as a major milestone for both the companies and hoped to continue a relationship in all areas of communication.
He also stressed upon the importance of a fair competitive environment and a level playing ground. He said direct interconnect would result in increased traffic between the two networks and help in developing cellular market in Pakistan.
He lauded the PTA efforts in convincing the incumbent operators to sign interconnect agreements with two new cellular operators. He said with the Warid interconnect signing, Telenor Pakistan completed direct interconnection arrangements with all the incumbent cellular operators, which would help seamless traffic and SMS flow between all the networks.
Hamid Farooq said that the real test of interconnect would come when the traffic would start flowing between the exchanges. At that time, a very close interaction between respective counterpart departments would be required.
He expressed the hope that as progressive operators Warid and Telenor both would be able to ensure exemplary quality of service benchmark offerings to the subscribers.
The PTA chairman while expressing satisfaction at the agreement signing said that interconnection is most important in the telecom sector and this has immense consequences for the telecom business. He said that the agreement is also vital in order to ensure an environment of co-operation, which is immensely beneficial for the consumers.
He hoped that with rich international experience, Telenor Pakistan and Warid Telecom would bring highest quality cellular communication experience for the people of Pakistan.