ISLAMABAD, Oct 29: The Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Wednesday asked the PTCL to reduce line rent and introduce new packages for its subscribers.

“The PTCL management must seriously consider reducing the line rent to provide maximum relief to the customers,” the minister said at a meeting of PTCL board of directors and senior officials of the organization at the PTCL headquarters.

Recently, the PTCL has sought approval from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for reducing nationwide and overseas call tariffs by 15 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, with effect from November 1, but has not hinted at reducing the fixed line rent.

During the meeting, Mr Leghari appreciated the huge profits earned by the PTCL over the last one year and hoped that the company would continue to perform in the same line.

“I also expect the PTCL management to give due share to its employees and the subscribers from these profits,” he added.

About the deregulation of the telecom sector, he asked the PTCL management to get ready for the competition ensuing from the deregulation in the coming months and introduce more cost- effective services to attract more customers.

The minister expressed satisfaction on efforts made by the company in human resource development but called for induction of more professionals to improve efficiency and productivity. He suggested that a proper evaluation of the workers and individuals be carried out to determine the extent of reward or punishment.

The minister also directed the management to expedite printing of an error-free telephone directory for the coming year. He also discussed the tendering process and called for making it more transparent, saying that decisions on all tenders should be made within a month following the release of advertisements.

The primary focus of the government was on the development of telecom and IT infrastructure and the introduction of the telecom deregulation policy was part of these efforts, he said, adding that the deregulation of the telecommunication sector would speed up development of infrastructure through channelling of private investment both from domestic and international sources.

Our Reporter ADDS: A number of leading international telecommunication organizations have shown keen interest in acquiring licences for mobile telephones and other forms of telecommunications.

This was said by the PTA officials at a briefing given to President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. They were given briefings on the measures taken for the expansion and privatization of the telecommunication sector.

The meeting discussed various measure and ways to attract foreign investment in the country.

They also examined the various proposals for expansion of the telecom services and interest expressed by foreign investors in this sector.

While expressing their appreciation of the recent reduction in the tariff of international and nationwide telephone call charges, the President and the Prime Minister directed that concrete and visible steps should be taken for providing better services to the subscribers at affordable competitive rates.

They said that the process of issuing licenses to the applicants should be expedited and carried out in a transparent manner.

Earlier the PTA chairman, Shahzada Alam Malik gave a presentation, focussing on overall development of the telecom sector, telephony services and deregulation policy of the government.

He proposed reduction in taxes and PTCL tariff to make telephone services affordable to common man.

The PTA chief also proposed that licences to cell phone operators be issued immediately.

The participants of the meeting included IT and Telecom Minister Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari, Minister for Privatization Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and the Chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Pakistan Telecommunications Company and National Telecommunications Corporation.