Archive for October 6th, 2008

Interview With USF CEO Mr. Parvez Iftikhar - Part 3

Published by Babar Bhatti on October 6, 2008 under Broadband Internet, Digital Divide, Investment, Mobile Companies, Telecommunications, Universal Service Fund

This is the third and last part of the interview series with Universal Service Fund CEO. I hope that the three posts gave a good overview of the initiative. We will track and share the progress on this project. I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Parvez Iftikhar for his time and interest in sharing the details of USF.

How is USF different from Rabta Ghar scheme?

Rabta Ghar is an excellent programme started by PTA. But the nature and the size of the two programs are completely different. Rabta Ghar strives to establish “telecenters” in rural areas so that rural folks can come to the Rabta Ghar and make/receive voice and data calls. Whereas USF strives to “illuminate” entire areas in a manner that practically anyone in those areas can acquire his/her own connection. Telecenters will only be one sub-set of the USF projects – for those who cannot afford their own phones and data devices.

What plans and metrics do you have to monitor the performance and return on this investment?

Very simple. As per USF Policy we have specific laid down targets and we have to meet those targets. And with today’s technologies it is no problem to measure if those numbers have been reached or not. The measurements will be taken by professional technical auditors, who will mostly not belong to USF.

To elaborate with an example: In Mansehra Lot (consisting of the districts of Kohistan, Batagram, Abotabad, Haripur and Mansehra), there are a million people, living in 1,479 villages (spread over 11,366 Sq.Kms) who have no way of getting a phone connection. Therefore our targets are:

i. to give each one in these 1,479 villages, the possibility to get a phone connection
ii. to reach at least 5% teledensity overall, as a first step
iii. to have PCOs in villages/towns of the area that have a population above 2,000
iv. to have telecenters in towns with a population of above 10,000

The technical auditors will go to these villages and take measurements to verify that these parameters have been met, before the payments are made. The measurement work will be done in 4 phases in each Lot so that subsidies can be disbursed progressively against achievement of these 4 milestones.

Subsequently USF will hold a Bank Guarantee from each Operator worth 40% of the subsidy value and in case of any breach of contract USF will have the option of imposing penalties.