NEWS

The Universal Service Fund (USF) has awarded project worth Rs 759 million to Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) for broadband coverage in Balochistan. Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Muhammad Naveed inaugurated the project "Seamless broadband coverage from Hub to Jiwani: Makran Coastal Highway" worth Rs 759 million at a ceremony held on Tuesday.

The contract of project was signed by the USF with Ufone. Chief Executive Officer, Universal Service Fund, Rizwan Mustafa Mir signed the contract with CEO Ufone, Rashid Khan.

In order to execute the project, 58 BTS towers will be installed in a contracted time frame of 18 months. To take this further, all major motorways and highways will be facilitated through seamless connectivity in future.

Under this project, seamless voice and broadband services will be provided to the coastal highway of 694 kilometres and for the first time in Pakistan national roaming is also being made available.

While addressing the ceremony, Chairman PTA Muhammad Naveed stated that with constant dedication and devotion, yet another milestone has been achieved.

He further said that the event marked one of the greatest landmarks achieved in the field of telecom in Pakistan and would go a long way in taking the developmental work being done by the ministry to a greater level.

He also added that with such projects, the Ministry for IT through the USF would continue to work towards achieving the mission of broadband penetration across the country to facilitate the masses in the rural areas.

He said that in addition to broadband infrastructure, he expected the USF to launch a new e-services and m-services to facilitate digital lifestyle adoption for the people of Pakistan.

CEO-USF, Rizwan Mustafa Mir also gave an introduction of the project while saying that this is the first project under the Next Generation-Broadband for sustainable development programme with focus on broadband coverage to allow for seamless operation of modern APPS.

Furthermore, this will be the first network in Pakistan where the winning bidder will be required to enable national subscriber roaming for other consumers to benefit from the service.

Speaking on the occasion, President and CEO Ufone Rashid Khan said, "Universal Service Fund was established to promote the development of telecommunication services in un-served and under-served areas throughout the length and breadth of the country. At Ufone, we are committed to the same goal of providing telecommunication services to every Pakistani. The project has a special significance, as an important highway in Balochistan will be connected through broadband services under this initiative."

The USF has claimed that 834 Mauzas (with overall population of around 650,000) were provided with broadband coverage to un-served/under-served areas of Awaran, Khuzdar, Kohistan, Kharan, Chitral, North Waziristan and other KPK areas.

Further project of Next-Generation Broadband for Sustainable Development to serve 481 un-served mauzas of Dadu with population of 1.3 million through upgraded services (2G to 3G) has been approved. Along the highways & motorways in Balochistan with a view to augment CPEC, contract has been awarded for 694-km of road segments whereas projects have been approved for another 1,101-km.

Further Optic Fibre Cable has been laid in 1,037-km in 20 tehsil headquarters (THQs)/major towns of Balochistan and Punjab.

The USF official said that all the programmes are aimed at connecting the rural/remote areas of Pakistan by providing state-of-the-art telecommunication services to the marginalised segments of the society through public-private partnership, whereby funds are contributed by the telecom operators and industry is also included in finalization and approval of programmes.

Senior officials of the Ministry of IT, Ufone, USF and representatives of IT and Telecom companies were also present at the event.