Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major-General Shahzada Alam Malik (Retd) has said that with the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP), the mobile phone consumers would get enhanced cellular services, and it would bring healthy competition in the booming telecom sector.
He was talking to media persons after the signing of frame agreements of Telenor Pakistan with Siemens and Nokia, here on Wednesday.
The PTA chief said all preparations were being finalised to launch the pro-consumer service of MNP on March 23, adding Pakistan would be the first country to have this service in the region.
He said that after the MNP service was available, a mobile phone consumer could change his service-provider any time while keeping the number and code unchanged.
He said the Authority had played effective role in paving way for the fastest telecommunication growth of Pakistan in the region, adding it was ensuring that this growth continues unhindered and the Authority was committed to becoming a facilitator. The PTA chief said the telecom sector had contributed strongly to the country's economic growth.
"The sector currently constitutes two percent of the GDP, which is expected to rise to three percent in the next three to four years. Telenor Pakistan, Nokia and Siemens have played a major role in terms of investment and technology. Today's agreements add more milestones to the telecom success story," said Malik.
He said the cellular mobile phone subscribers had crossed the unprecedented number of 50 million with 1.5 million subscribers joining each month. The number of telephone lines available to each hundred persons (overall teledensity) had risen to 35.40 percent in December 2006 from just 3.66 in 2001-02. Similarly, mobile phone density had reached at 32.66 percent in January 2007. In October - December 2006,the foreign direct investment (FDI) worth $147 million came into this sector, he added.