KARACHI, April 14: Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Leghari on Wednesday said the induction of new operators into the cellular phone industry would do away with complaints
of poor customer services offered by the existing mobile phone companies.
At a press conference he expressed the hope that the two successful bidders would increase infrastructure capacity for around three million subscribers over the next two years.
He said during the period the cellular telephony sector was likely to receive an investment of about $1 billion, adding that penetration levels would increase from the existing 2.3 per cent to roughly 6 per cent.
He said that Telenor and Space Telecom made winning bids of $291 million each for the 15-year global system for mobile communications licences. He said that both the bidders would pay 50 per cent of the amount upfront and the rest over the next 14 years.
"The influx of foreign investment shows that the international community reposes huge confidence in the political and economic policies of the government. The initial payments, to be collected by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, would be followed by investment in the development of infrastructure, providing job opportunities to a large number of workers and more options to cellular phone users," he said.
He said the payments would be collected under universal service fund which would be employed to establish and upgrade telecommunications facilities in the underdeveloped areas of the country," he explained.
Answering a question, he said that under the newly chalked out cellular phone policy no new licences would be issued in the next five years. He said that in August Ufone would issue 3.5 million new connections. Mr Leghari told a newsman that the government was considering reducing activation charges from Rs2,000 to Rs500.
APP ADDS: Federal IT Minister, Awais Leghari said Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited is considering new packages for its customers in the wake of possible entry of new telephone companies in the Pakistani Telecom sector.
The minister said that only last year PTCL had doubled the duration of local calls and reduced the domestic and international call charges substantially. He said the PTA had invited offers by the end of this month from interested companies for providing fixed telephone facilities. Prior to this, the PTCL is considering to give new packages for its customers.
