ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque on Friday said that we own the urban and rural areas of Sindh and continuously rolling out Broadband, OFC and other connectivity projects for these areas without any discrimination.
He said a project of over Rs870-million has been approved for providing mobile and high-speed internet services in Tharparkar district. He said this project, which will be completed in 18 months, will provide mobile and broadband facilities to more than 72 thousand residents of various un-served villages spread over an area of 10,432 Sq. km.
In an official statement, Syed Amin Ul Haque said broadband project has also been approved costing Rs188.1 million for more than 15 thousand people in 19 villages of Gwadar, Balochistan. The IT Minister said that the completion of these projects will provide an opportunity to the residents of un-served, under-served and remote areas of Balochistan and Sindh not only to connect with the digital world even, they will be able to find convenience in their daily routines, their business and other life needs with this connectivity.
The Minister said that with the projects of providing broadband services in the un-served, under-served areas of the country under USF expanding Connectivity Network, the performance of the USF is being appreciated globally.
He said GSMA Asia Pacific and ITU have praised USF’s structure and project methodology in this regard. It is worth mentioning here that on the directive of Minister IT and Telecom the Universal Service Fund (USF) Board approved award of two contracts worth approx. Rs1.06 billion to Telenor and Ufone for the un-served and under-served communities of Balochistan and Sindh provinces here on Friday.
The Chief Executive Officer of USF, Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary briefed the Board members about the progress of the current projects and said, “These projects will empower around 87,266 people living in 79 muazas of Tharparkar district in Sindh and Gwadar district in Balochistan.