The Board of Directors of Universal Service Fund (USF) on Wednesday approved the award of Awaran/Lasbela Lot, worth Rs 2.3 billion, under the Broadband for Sustainable Development (BSD) project. An un-served population of about 196,177, covering 269 un-served mauzas and an un-served area of 39,434 sq kms will get modern broadband facilities through this project.
The 48th Board of Directors meeting of Universal Service Fund Company (USF Co) was held in the chair of Chairperson USF Co Board and the Minister of State for IT & Telecom Anusha Rahman. The Board of Directors took an overview of the existing projects of USF pertaining to the establishment of 50 more computer labs in Bait-ul-Maal for women empowerment under the ICTs for girls programme and broadband for low-income women in phase-II.
According to the USF officials, the Awaran/Lasbela Lot covers 12.8 percent of the area and 6.5 percent of the total estimated population of Balochistan and includes Awaran and Lasbela districts. This lot shares borders with Karachi and Dadu districts in the east, Khuzdar and Washuk in the north, Panjgoor and Kech in the west and Gwadar district in the south.
Officials said that USF has set a target to reach all under-served and un-served areas of the country with rural telephone and e-Services (RTeS) by 2018. Despite massive growth in telecom, vast areas remain of the country is still un-served. On the other hand, telecom is one of the most important tools for rapid development, especially in rural areas. The USF has been given the mandate to provide telecommunication services in underserved and un-served areas.
All licensed telcos contribute at the rate of 1.5 per cent of their revenue in the USF for the purpose to reach such areas. Since 2006 ie the year of the USF inception, about Rs 100 billion were contributed to the Fund by telcos of which about Rs 50 billion have already been utilised against 35 old and 7 new projects.
The USF Co Board of Directors has approved Rs 13 billion for financial year 2016-2017 to ensure coverage of telecommunication and internet facilities in far flung areas of the country. Four new projects at an estimated cost of Rs 3 billion are going to be started in 2016-17 under USF to extend IT and telephone services to far-flung areas. Another Rs 9.52 billion will be spent on the ongoing projects in un-served undeserved areas of the four provinces.
New lines at a cost of Rs 2.43 billion would be laid in Balochistan, Kharaan, Washuk, Dera Bugti, Kohistan and Waziristan in the current financial year. An amount of Rs 11.94 million has been earmarked for provision of telephone services in rural areas during 2016-17.
The USF has provided telecommunication facility to 310 underserved towns and provided 5500km fibre optics so far. In addition to that USF has established 50 computer labs in Bait-ul-Maal for women empowerment centres. The USF also plans to establish 500 Tele-centres of which 30 are already established to serve as one stop for telecommunication services. The Board meeting was attended by Secretary IT Rizwan Bashir Khan, Member Telecom Mudassar Hussain, Chairman PTA Dr Ismail Shah, VP ISPs of Pakistan Azfar Manzoor, CEO Mobilink Aamir Ibrahim and CEO USF Co Faisal Sattar.