Pakistan Telecom sector attracts $ 9 Bln Investment
'Pakistan Times' Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that as a result of government's policies of deregulation, privatization and liberalization the telecom sector has attracted an investment of 9 billion dollars, which includes the cost and upgradation of equipment, equity and license fee.

The Prime Minister said this while reviewing the performance of the telecom sector in a high-level meeting which was attended by Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Leghari, Minister of State for Information Technology Ishaq Khakwani, the Secretary Information Technology and other senior officials.

The Prime Minister said that the telecom sector has become a major employer of skilled jobs as its exponential growth has resulted in creation of 80,000 jobs directly and 500,000 jobs indirectly.

The Prime Minister appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of IT and the regulatory authority for their systematic and sustained implementation and management efforts to totally transform and modernize the telecom sector.

The Prime Minister said people are the major beneficiaries of the telecom sector's success story as 70 per cent of the country's population has access to improved telecom services at substantially reduced tariffs.

He said that the apprehension that privatization of the PTCL will turn a public monopoly into a private monopoly has also proved to be totally unfounded. The public now has the choice of multiple telephone service providers at competitive rates, he added.

The Prime Minister said that it is not often realized that access to telecom services gives a sense of pride and confidence to the people as it provides instant connectivity across the country and the world.

During his presentation about the telecom sector, Secretary IT said that the telecom sector constitutes 2 per cent of the GDP which is expected to rise to 3 per cent in the next three to four years. The country has 50 million phones including cellular and fixed lines, he added.

He informed the meeting that the teledensity has increased from 4 per cent in 2003 to 35 per cent in 2007.

The Secretary IT informed the meeting that the current revenue of Rs. 200 million from the telecom industry is expected to increase at a rate of 20 per cent per annum. The government receipts from the telecom sector in the shape of taxes, dividends and indirect revenues amount to Rs. 80 billion per year, he added.●