14 January 2005	Friday	03 Zilhaj 1425

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RAWALPINDI, Jan 13: Competitiveness in the long-distance international and wireless local-loop will result in the growth of the telecommunication sector, says President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He was addressing a telecommunication deregulation ceremony here on Thursday. President Musharraf said: "I hope there will be a healthy competition among the wireless local loops and the mobile phone companies," he said.

The president said that the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation would be privatized and that the government would ensure that the monopoly did not pass from public to private sector.

He said that arrival of more companies in the telephone business would lead to an increase in economic activity and also help in bridging the urban-rural divide. Highlighting the government's policies during the past five years, President Musharraf said that the sector had grown by leaps and bounds because of the government's strategy.

"... And today's award of licenses marks a step towards realizing the tremendous potential that information technology and telecommunications offer to entrepreneurs, who have lucrative opportunities and an enabling and transparent environment to prosper," he said.

The president said that the growth in the telecommunication sectors would benefit both agricultural and industrial sectors. The president said that because of the government policies internet connectivity had increased from 29 urban centres to over 1,800 cities and the tele-density had risen from 2.9 per cent to eight per cent.

He said that a similar growth was witnessed in the mobile phone sector and users had increased from 350,000 to over eight million. He commended the efforts made by Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Leghari and Pakistan Telecom Authority Chairman Maj-Gen (retd) Shahzada Alam in the development and growth of these sectors. -APP