Pakistan Telecom Attracts $ 9 Bln in 3 Years: PM
Pakistan Times National News Desk

LISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said the telecom sector which was getting negligible investment only a few years back has attracted $ 9 billion foreign investment in the last three years and expects to get another $ 4 billion during the next 3-4 years.

He was talking to Rob Conway, Chief Executive Officer of GSMA Association who called on him alongwith CEOs of Warid, Mobilink, UFONE, Telenor and Paktel here today.

GSMA is a global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 territories and countries of the world.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan has become a hub of activity for international and local telecom companies and unprecedented amount of foreign investment flowed into the sector due to the well thought-out telecom policy, which was prepared after intensive discussions and debates involving all stakeholders.

He said Pakistan has bright prospects for attracting foreign investment as the economy is growing fast and demand is increasing with a flourishing middle class and the improved capacity of the people to pay.

The Prime Minister said telecom is one of the fastest growing sectors of the country and the combined teledensity has increased from 4.5 percent of the population two years ago to about 40 percent at present.

The number of subscribers of fixed and mobile telephony has increased from 8 million in 2003 to over 50 million in 2006 and the market has the potential to reach 80 million mobile in 2 to 3 years, he added.

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.

He said people are the major beneficiaries of the telecom sector’s success story as 70 percent of the country’s population has access to improved telecom services at substantially reduced tariffs.

The Prime Minister said the government is implementing legislation for developing Universal Service Fund (USF) framework to enhance rural teledensity and to provide basic telecom services to the under/and unserved areas.

He said the government is also evolving comprehensive framework for aligning regulatory framework for leveraging mobile technology for improving access to financial services.

This will bring low income cash dependent segment into the banking network and hence make provision of full range of micro-finance services possible, the Prime Minister added.

Rob Conway appreciated the reforms-oriented policies of the government. He said the level playing field and the facilitating environment created by the government has encouraged investors and Pakistan is attracting significant foreign investments, he added.

Rob Conway commended the positive and cooperative attitude of the government functionaries and said every possible effort is being made to facilitate the private sector to grow.

Besides Minister for IT & Telecom Awais Ahmed Leghari, the meeting was attended by Zouhair Khaliq CEO of Pakistan's largest, most favourite and popular mobile phone service network Mobilink, Senior Vice President Public Policy GSM Ricardo Tavares, CEO Wand Telecom (Pvt) Ltd Hamid Farooq, CEO UFONE Mubashir Naqvi, CEO Telenor Tore Johnson, CEO Paktel Guo Yong Hong and senior officials.●