One of Malaysia's leading telecom companies is investing 100 million dollars in Pakistan for connecting 107 cities with 4,100 kilometers of fibre optic cable.
Speaking at a news conference here on the sidelines of the World Islamic Economic Forum, Chief Executive Officer of Telekom Malaysia (TM) Yusof Annuar Yaacob said 'Project Ittehad' would boost the country's overall communications infrastructure.
One of its subsidiary companies, Multinet is providing broadband internet access via wired and wireless media in 12 cities in Pakistan. Multinet CEO Adnan Azdar said 40 percent of the total investment by the TM had already been made.
Multinet is the first private sector operator in developing optic fibre infrastructure in Pakistan. Yaacob said the company, which has 23 million mobile subscribers all over Asia, was looking seriously at making inroads into Pakistan's lucrative mobile market.
TM, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, has a string of other subsidiaries in Asia where it has substantial equity control in several mobile operators. "We are the emerging leader for Asian communication and have all the right ingredients for international success," he added.
He said the Multinet would be able to fulfil the needs of Pakistan's high growth telecommunication sector, offering services to mobile operators, long distance international operators and internet service providers.
As one of the largest listed companies in Malaysia, TM has a market capitalisation of $8.38 billion and interests in Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Iran.
With a combined population of nearly two billion across nine Asian markets, where it has invested over $1.3 billion, Yaacob was confident that the company would capture further telecommunication market share. "We are focusing on quick and efficient execution of specific strategies and hope to capture more market share," he added.