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NATIONAL SCI-TECH SCENE
Guidelines for global mobile personal communication
Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari last week announced policy guidelines for global mobile personal communication services (GMPCS) by satellite to ensure cheaper and affordable telecom services for the remote and under-served areas.
A statement, issued from the office of the minister, stated that an open-technology, neutral and non-exclusive regime would be followed for this type of service to enhance coverage for the remote areas.
Tariffs for the service would be brought down to an affordable level to ensure a meaningful GMPCS presence in the country, besides improving rural coverage.
Space segment (that is satellite constellations duly coordinated as per ITU regulations) should be licensed by the operator’s home administration for which no further regulation was necessary, he said.
He explained that the GMPCS was a personal communication system providing trans-national, regional or global coverage from a constellation of satellites accessible with small and easily transportable terminals. It is capable of providing telecommunication services directly to end users.
The minister said GMPCS services now included two-way voice, fax, messaging, data and even broadband multimedia and according to international estimates, the GMPCS might constitute approximately 2-3 per cent of the cellular market.
Under the policy, the minister explained that the commercial agreements could be signed between parties on non-exclusive basis. However, the service providers would have to inform the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), before offering the GMPCS, besides information on coverage and quality of service, coordination with Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) would be required.
Awais Leghari explained that the GMPCS was universally recognized as a basic system for the development of telecom infrastructure and efforts would be made at policy-making level to make sure that the GMPCS be available on a non-discriminatory basis, be cost-effective and preserve the sovereignty of the country.
Awais Ahmad Khan said his ministry would also encourage setting up of public call offices (PCOs) in the rural areas, for which a reduced tariff was being discussed with the GMPCS providers.
At present, Thuraya (in Urdu Suraiya) is providing the GMPCS in collaboration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). As a result of this policy, other providers would also be able to start this service in Pakistan.
SSGC & WWF
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has launched a two-month programme to promote environmental awareness in schoolchildren with the financial cooperation of Sui Southern Gas .
About 600 students of lower secondary schools of the City District Government, Karachi, will visit the WWF Wetland Centre at Sandspit on the Karachi beach and learn about the significance of mangrove forests and marine life.
Copyrights violations
The government has decided to establish the Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights Organization as a single government agency responsible for the protection of all forms of intellectual property rights such as trademarks, copyrights and patents.
The federal cabinet, in its meeting held on April 7, approved a draft bill which would be placed before parliament for enactment. The government, according to a source, had been under pressure from the US to curb piracy of trade marks/patents of pharmaceuticals, brands and other products duly registered in that country in accordance with Pakistan’s commitments under the World Trade Organization’s agreement called Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips).
The government’s decision is pertinent especially because the United States government, which had put Pakistan on its watch list with regard to Trips, is going to hold its annual review on the subject in Washington by the end of this month.
Environment project for Pindi
The economic affairs division and the Punjab department of planning and development have approved the Rawalpindi Environmental Improvement Project (REIP).
A fact-finding mission of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the government of Punjab jointly presented an aide memoir of the project on March 24 in Lahore after the bank mission, which had been invited by the Punjab government, reached an agreement with the latter on the objectives, scope, components, cost, financing and implementation arrangements, terms and conditions of the project. — Sci-tech World Report
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