President, PM satisfied with telecom growth
ISLAMABAD: The number of mobile phone connections in Pakistan, which currently stands at 41 million, is expected to touch 50 million mark by June 30 next year. President General Pervez Musharraf was informed this in a report submitted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) chairman Maj-Gen (retd) Shahzada Alam Malik. According to an official source, the president has been informed that the PTA got the overseas telephone call rates reduced from almost Rs 100 to Rs 2 per minute.
“This revolutionary change has been brought by successfully implementing the telecommunication policy,” an official said, adding: “The president and the prime minister have expressed their satisfaction over success of the policy of getting mobile phone rates from Rs 6.50 to Rs 0.90 per minute.” The official pointed out that the number of cellphone connections, which stood at 1 million in 2002, have touched the mark of 41 million. Moreover, he said, the president has been informed that the initiative of blocking the snatched and stolen sets has been successful and would be helpful in curbing the menace of terrorism, because the elements involved in such heinous activities generally use snatched or stolen cellphones. He said that the Internet charges would decrease after 25-30 per cent decrease in the bandwidth rates and this would give an impetus to the growth of information technology in the country, as the step would benefit the call centres and software houses.
“The telecom watchdog has decided to conduct a survey to check the quality of service of the mobile phone operators,” the official said. “The operators whose service will not be up to the mark will be imposed heavy fines and even licences of such operators may be cancelled,” he added. “The government can ensure provision of daily-use items to public at cheap rates through a fair competition among the manufacturers just like the domestic and international call rates, that have decreased substantially because of healthy competition among the telecom companies,” an analyst said. “This goal can be achieved by eliminating the cartels of manufacturers, as the influential and powerful interest groups are bringing a bad name to the government,” he added. The analyst said that if the proposed monopoly commission is empowered to get the manufacturers jailed for three years like the United States, Europe and India for formation of a cartel, then the government’s ill repute among masses could be turned into its popularity.
Source: The News
Date:10/18/2006
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