Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MOITT), on Monday, launched seven additional projects of cost over PKR 8 billion to provide Broadband Services and Optical Fiber transmission in the under-served and un-served areas of all four provinces, said the statement issued by the Ministry.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOITT) has launched seven more projects worth over Rs. 8 billion to provide Broadband services and Optical Fiber Transmission in the under-served and un-served areas of the country, said the statement issued by the ministry.
to over 2.5 million people in the un-served and under-served areas of the four provinces, including Rs. 3.5 billion projects for Balochistan.
The projects would be launched through USF will benefit more than 2.5 million people including the people of poorly-served Balochistan, for which projects worth PKR 3.5 billion have been assigned.
Meeting of the USF Board of Directors
The approval for these projects was granted in the 81st meeting of the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Fund (USF) conducted on Monday, which was chaired by Secretary IT & Telecom and Chairman USF Board Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput while many other high ranking officials attended the meeting including Chairman PTA Major General (Retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa, CEO Telenor Irfan Wahab Khan, Member Telecom Muhammad Umar Malik, Sibte Hassan Gardezi, Imran Akhtar Shah and Kokab Iqbal.
With the approval of this venture, the number of projects for providing optical fiber cable and broadband services from 2018 to date has accomplished a record 56 and the total subsidy has exceeded Rs. 52 billion.
Details of the project:
According to the press release issued by the Ministry of IT and Telecom:
- The project to provide 4G services in Qila Saifullah and Zhob in Balochistan has been awarded to Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) with total subsidy is Rs.3.57 billion and with an expected completion period of 18 months.
- The plan to provide broadband services in Jhang, Bhakkar and Toba Tek Singh districts of Punjab has been given to Pakistan Mobile Company Limited (Jazz) on which the amount of subsidy given is Rs. 2.25 billion with one-year completion time.
- The project of uninterrupted Voice and Broadband services on 95 km section of Hakla D.I Khan Motorway connecting Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Mianwali, Attock and Rawalpindi districts to Jazz at a subsidy of Rs.375.33 million has been approved by the meeting.
- Under optical fiber cable (OFC) program, 555 km long fiber optical cable laying project in Larkana and Qambar Shahdad Kot districts of Sindh has been given to PTCL with total subsidy of Rs. 1.61 billion and completion period is one year.
Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-Ul-Haque, while congratulating the USF Board on the launch of the projects, said that regardless of the political situation, the MOITT and its subsidiaries, especially the USF, continue to perform. Continuing is a solid demonstration of our commitment to connecting people in remote areas of the country to the Digital World.
Secretary IT and Chairman USF Board Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput while addressing the meeting, said that the provision of broadband services to the residents of the un-served and under-served areas of Pakistan is as much needed as for the big cities.