ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to hand over the loss-making entity – the Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) to the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) for revitalising it.

The federal cabinet has approved the hand over of the TIP to the NRTC to revitalise this loss making entity. This was confirmed by Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan.

The federal minister took to Twitter and stated that the federal cabinet has approved the handing over of the TIP to the NRTC.

An important industry of Haripur will now be revitalised and made operational creating new job opportunities in an important tech sector, he added. When contacted, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haq said a summary was moved in the cabinet regarding handing over TIP to NRTC.

Haq said Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication was of the view that if the NRTC is ready to take the TIP liabilities of Rs7.9 billion piling since 2004, pensions and employees future responsibility, the ministry is ready to hand over it to the NRTC.

Haq further said an inter-ministerial committee comprising federal finance minister, defence production and information technology and telecommunication was constituted to look into the matter. The TIP has become non-functional as its annual revenue has drastically gone down from Rs700 million to about Rs 20 million in the recent past, official sources revealed.

The TIP is a state-owned enterprise (SOE) currently running in losses and draining an average Rs500 million a year in terms of salary support. The TIP has adequate land of 432 kanals, infrastructure, and skilled manpower.

Soon after coming into power, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui during a press conference announced that the government is ready to establish a mobile phone manufacturing plant in Haripur in collaboration with the private sector, dropping the idea of privatising the TIP.

According to the NRTC mission statement is to design, develop and manufacture military and commercial level telecommunication equipment, electronic systems and IT-based solutions. As per its quality policy, it’s to provide customers world class quality telecommunication equipment which meets all their operational requirements in time, at affordable cost.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021