Telenor Pakistan gets Rs555 million broadband project for four districts in KPK

ISLAMABAD: The Universal Service Fund (USF) on Thursday awarded a contract worth Rs555 million to Telenor for providing high-speed mobile broadband services in four districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The contract was signed by Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary, CEO of USF with Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO of Telenor Pakistan.

USF chief executive officer Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary and Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO of Telenor Pakistan signed the contract

Information Technology and Telecommunication Minister Syed Amin Ul Haque and Minister for Defense Pervez Khattak witnessed the signing ceremony.

The awarded contract is for providing high speed mobile broadband services in Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi and Charsadda districts.

Minsiter Haque said the ministry had contracted 25 projects worth over Rs31 billion for the provision of high speed broadband services and laying of optical fiber cable in unserved and underserved areas of the country in the last financial year.

“While the number of projects has been increased to 30 in the current financial year, this process will not stop here,” he added.

The minister said mobile operators provide networking and broadband services in cities but in scattered or sparsely populated areas it is difficult for them to work from a business point of view.

“In such cases, the ministry of IT and Telecommunication through USF not only identifies such areas but also pays subsidy that covers 80 to 90 percent of the project costs,” Haque said.

He said the project will be completed within the stipulated time of 16 months.

Irfan of Telenor Pakistan connectivity has fast become a fundamental need in the digital world today, and the

Telenor strives to bring it to every Pakistani’s life. “Together with USF, Telenor Pakistan has signed a contract to bring high-speed mobile internet to the underserved regions.”

Chaudhary, CEO of USF, said without the constant support of the IT and Telecommunication ministry, “it would not have been possible for USF to launch 25 projects in the last fiscal year”.

“As a result of the encouragement, we are going to launch 30 more projects in the current financial year,” he added.

The project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will benefit an unserved population of 0.16 million in 70 unserved mauzas, thereby covering an unserved area of 778 sq. km. of Nowshera, Mardan, Swabi and Charsadda districts.

The Policy Committee of the USF, last week, approved 30 projects — the highest so far — for FY22, with an allocation of more than Rs18 billion for establishing

IT and telecom infrastructure in the country.

USF is a subsidiary of the Ministry of IT which aims to expand the internet and telecom services to remote areas of the country where the telecom companies and the internet service providers do not enter as such areas were not commercially viable.

The fund consists of 1.5pc of adjusted revenues of the telecom operators and various contracts for the development of IT and telecom infrastructures are awarded through auction and the amount is paid from the fund.