Internet coverage in 400 cities, towns
LAHORE- With the completion of Phase II of Universal Internet Access Coverage Plan, initiated by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL), about 2.7 million telephone customers have been added in the network, increasing the telephone population coverage for Internet from 45 per cent to 55 per cent.
According to PTCL officials, under Phase II, Internet coverage expanded from 299 to over 400 cities and towns till June 2001 with the additional investment of Rs 150 million.
They informed that under phase III PTCL would implement 100 per cent digitalization of its switching network by June, 2002, for Universal Internet Access while Internet Coverage would expand to over 1000 cities and small towns.
The phase will be completed with total cost of Rs 250 million.
The telephone population coverage for Internet would also be increased to about 80 per cent, adding about 3 million telephone customers to Internet Access Coverage Plan.
It may be noted that PTCL already expanded Internet coverage from 29 cities (October 2000) to over 299 cities through local call rate with the investment of over Rs 100 million under Phase I of the Universal Internet Coverage Plan. PTCL officials said that in this connection, special efforts were made to enhance coverage in rural Sindh and Balochistan.
They stated that population coverage from Internet increased from about 30 to 45 per cent under the Phase I.
The PTCL officials were of the opinion that the basic thrust of the PTCL plan was to provide Internet facility to each and every citizen at his doorstep and expand the network of the Internet service to every nook and corner of the country.
They said that the purpose was to effectively compete at the international level and to acquaint the people of the country with the information technology.
Source: The Nation
Date:7/9/2001
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