ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Mohammad Naveed inaugurated the Rs759 million ‘Seamless Broadband Coverage from Hub to Jiwani: Makran Coastal Highway’ project in the capital on Tuesday.

A contract was also signed for the project between the Universal Services Fund (USF) and the cellular operator Ufone. USF CEO Rizwan Mustafa Mir signed the contract with Ufone CEO Rashid Khan.

Senior IT ministry, Ufone and USF officials and representatives from IT and telecommunications companies were also present.

In order to execute the project, 58 base transceiver station (BTS) towers will be installed in the contracted timeframe of 18 months.

Mr Naveed, while speaking at the inauguration ceremony, described the project as a milestone. He said the event marked one of the greatest landmarks achieved in the field of information technology and telecommunications in Pakistan, and would go a long way in taking developmental work done by the ministry to a greater level.

With such projects, the Ministry for IT through the USF will continue to work towards the mission of broadband penetration across the country to facilitate the public in rural areas.

In addition to broadband infrastructure, he said he expected the USF to launch new e-services and m-services to facilitate the adoption of a digital lifestyle for the people of Pakistan.

Mr Mir from the USF introduced the project, informing the audience that this is the first USF project to cover highways and motorways.

This will be the first project in which national roaming will be enabled by the operator so subscribers from other operators can receive service while travelling along the highway.

“This is also the first project with high speed data enabled, which means 512 kilobits per second download and 128 kilobits per second upload. With this high capacity, high quality data rate, one can use modern applications as they travel along the highway.

“The impact of it is that population along the stretch of the road can benefit from e-services – e-health and e-education — and particularly boost tourism opportunities along the Makran coastal highway because broadband activity is essential before a place can develop,” Mr Mir said.

This is the first of three projects carried out through a USF subsidy. The others will be in Balochistan, he said.

Ufone’s Mr Khan said the USF was established to promote the development of telecommunication services in un-served and underserved areas throughout the country.

He said the company has the same goal to provide telecommunications services to every Pakistani.

Under the project, voice and broadband services will be provided to the 694 kilometre coastal highway and national roaming will be made available for the first time.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2018