ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Monday said future competition in the telecommunication sector would largely thrive on quality service and customer care.
"We have seen in recent weeks a kind of price war, but at some point the players would need to be sensible enough not to spill the blood and instead promote a healthy competition with focus on the quality of service and provision of innovative products," he said while opening the headquarters and local brand of a Norwegian telecom giant.
Norwegian Ambassador Janis Bjorn Kahavin and President and CEO of the company store Johnsen were also present. Mr Leghari said the government was aware of the issues like limited call mobility in the WLL (wireless local loop) sector and efforts were being made to tackle such issues through consultation and support from the sector.
The government is working on building capacity within the regulators to facilitate the sector, and any help and input from any company would be welcomed. Telecom sector in Pakistan, he said, was witnessing an exponential growth, but still there was a lot of unmet demand in the sector, posing a real challenge as well as an opportunity for companies to roll out their services aggressively.
He appreciated the trust shown by the company which has set an example by bringing 100 per cent investment to the country and in getting Pakistan recognized as a county with potential for large-scale projects. "The idea behind the government policy to award two licences last year was to bring healthy competition in the mobile industry," he said.
The CEO of the company said they were planning to transfer the experience and technology brought from around the world to the Pakistani community. "The concept, designing, operations methodology and customer-friendly approach at our sale and service centres will be a symbol of the same," he said.
He said the company was planning to invest over $1 billion in Pakistan over the next few years, mostly in developing its infrastructure throughout the length and breadth of the country.
"The investment we will undertake in establishing such sale and service centres nation wide is an evidence that we have full confidence in the country's governance, stability in its policies and capabilities of its people," he said, adding "this is why we are here to stay and add value to our company, this country and to its people."
Though Mr Johnsen could not give an exact date for the launch of the operations, he was sure that the company would start rolling out its services to the public by mid-April.
