State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Coinciding with the World Telecom day 2009, Universal Service Fund has signed contracts for providing Optic Fiber Connectivity to un-served Tehsils in Balochistan and Telecom Services in Rural Larkana. It is good that USF is going to remote areas which deserve more attention for technology infrastructure. For instance, Balochistan has the lowest penetration rate for mobile telephony.

CEO of Universal Service Fund, Parvez Iftikhar informed that two new projects of Universal Service Fund are being awarded. One is to provide optic Fiber connectivity to 5 un-served Tehsils of Balochistan (Dasht, Noshki, Dalbandin, Mashkhel and Taftan, touching also the cities of Dringar, Ahmadwal, Nokundi and Chaghi). He added that a subsidy Rs. 374 Million is being provided to Wateen Telecom for laying 900 kilometers of Optic Fiber Cable to these Tehsils which have a population of around 335,000. Second project, he further informed, is to provide basic telephony and data services in unserved areas of Larkana and Shikarpur districts. 72 muzas with a population of 165,000 will benefit. Subsidy of Rs. 228 Million is being provided to PTCL for this project.