ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday approved Rs5.1 billion worth of projects to provide high-speed mobile broadband services across the country.
The decision was made during the 74th board of directors meeting of Universal Service Fund (USF) presided over by Secretary Ministry of IT and Telecommunication Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui.
The board approved award of contracts to Telenor, Zong, Ufone and PTCL through the next generation broadband for the next generation optical fiber network and services program.
Telenor was awarded the contract of Upper and Lower Chitral, Dir districts where an unserved population of around 0.7 million will benefit from high speed mobile broadband services in 648 unserved villages.
PTCL was awarded the contract of Kashmore, Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur districts in Sindh. The next generation optical fiber network and services projects worth approximately Rs3 billion is aimed at laying of 1,078 km of optical fiber cable to connect 140 villages and union councils thereby providing high speed mobile broadband services to 4.7 million people.
Moreover, the board also approved award of contracts under the next generation broadband for sustainable development program worth Rs2 billion to Telenor, Zong and Ufone.
Likewise, Zong was awarded the contract of Karachi West and Malir districts in Sindh that will benefit an unserved population of approximately 0.1 million in 36 unserved villages and approximately 690 sq. km of unserved area.
Similarly, Ufone was awarded the contract of Mastung and Ziarat districts in Balochistan to serve an unserved population of approximately 0.1 million in 226 unserved villages and an approximate unserved area of 6,324 sq. km.
Telenor should first learn to walk before it attempts to run. It has extreme poor connectivity and reliability in Chitral at the moment.