July 25, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 24, 1424

ISLAMABAD, July 24: The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) is expected to approve a Rs2 billion Telecommunication Regulation and Privatization Project next week to enable the government to pull out of the telecom business.

The Ecnec which meets on July 30 with the deputy chairman planning commission Shahid Amjad Chaudhry in the chair would also approve establishment of 350 community schools in hard-to-reach Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), setting up of environmental monitoring system in Pakistan, rural digital communications uplift project phase-II for Azad Kashmir and Karachi Northern Bypass.

Documents made available to Dawn suggest the Rs2 billion telecom regulation and privatization project also involved a World Bank loan of around Rs1.2 billion equivalent. The annual recurring expenditures have been estimated at Rs548 million including a foreign exchange component of Rs60 million.

The project was initially started in 1996 with a total cost of Rs1.4 billion and was scheduled to be completed by the year 2000. However, the project was delayed unnecessarily by around four years resulting into a 27 per cent or Rs420 million increase in the project cost.

This has also led to delayed procurement of essential major parts of equipment required for management and monitoring systems, delayed training of FAB staff and ultimately delayed process of deregulation, policy reforms and privatization of the telecom sector and licensing of new operators.

With the implementation of the project, the government would be relieved of its major responsibility of telephone and would be confined to regulatory function through Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and provision of spectrum monitoring and security to sensitive communications through the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB).

The project headquarters would be located at Islamabad to which the four regional offices would be linked with computer and data network and the regulatory control would be applicable to the whole of Pakistan.

Under the project, regional licensing offices would be located at Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta while VHF/UHF monitoring and DF stations at Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Quetta.

Similarly, MF/HF monitoring and DF stations would be located at Wani, near Islamabad and Ghaggar, near Karachi while the Satellite Monitoring Station at Wani.

Financial and technical assistance for modernising frequency management and spectrum monitoring is also envisaged under the project. Major scope of work includes the procurement of computer hardware, software and radio equipment for spectrum monitoring at the FAB, and acquisition of land and construction of buildings for such a facility.