Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro has said that as a result of government's policies of deregulation, privatisation and liberalisation the telecom sector has attracted record investments.
The telecom sector, he said, has become a major employer of skilled jobs as its exponential growth has resulted in creation of thousands of jobs. The Prime Minister said this while talking to the CEO, PTCL Walid Irshad, who called on him here at the Prime Minister's Secretariat on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister said that systematic and sustained implementation and management efforts by the government has totally transformed and modernised the telecom sector. It is not often realised, he added, that access to telecom services gives a sense of pride and confidence to the people as it provides instant connectivity across the country and the world.
Prime Minister said people are the major beneficiaries of the telecom sector's success story as majority of the people have access to improved telecom services at substantially reduced tariffs.
The public now has the choice of multiple telephone service providers at competitive rates, he added. He said telecom is among the fastest growing sectors of the economy.
The country has 67 million phones including cellular and fixed lines and the teledensity has increased from 4 percent in 2003 to 46 percent in 2007. Walid Irshad said the economic stability achieved by Pakistan has created a conducive atmosphere for investment.
He said efforts are underway to transform PTCL into a world class company and it will bring expansion in areas of fixed lines, cellular phones, broad band, domestic and long distance calls.