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PTCL to be privatized within months: minister
THE government welcomed investments in the telecom sector from regional countries, said the Federal Minister for Information Technology, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari.
He also said the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) would be privatized within the next few months. “We are determined to provide a level playing field to all investors and the privatization of PTCL would be ensured in a smooth and transparent manner which has been the hallmark of (our) various policies,” he remarked while talking recently to Abdul Hameed Saeed, chief of the First Gulf Bank, UAE, who was on a visit to Pakistan.
Mr Leghari invited the bank to invest in PTCL as the utility company had the potential of growing into a regional telecom giant, following its privatization. He said Pakistan’s telecom and IT sectors were growing at a tremendous pace, creating big business opportunities for local and international players. He said the telecom sector alone was likely to generate an investment of between 5 and 6 billion dollars, besides thousands of jobs in the next four to five years.
Meanwhile, PTCL’s board of directors recently reviewed the company’s financial performance during the period ending in December. They recommended an interim dividend of Rs2 per share — 20 per cent — for the year ending on June 30, 2005.
Revenue during the first half of the financial year grew by 6.4 per cent, which is encouraging considering that the company has in the past one year substantially reduced its tariffs for most segments. Domestic revenue increased by 7.4 per cent mainly due to record 461,000 additional lines put in service in the first half.
Nationwide dialing revenue also grew in the first half despite severe competition in this segment from mobile phone operators. Similarly, revenue from outgoing overseas calls increased due to a 50 per cent growth in volume consequent to reduction in tariff.
The operating cost of the company increased by 11 per cent due to a volume-related increase in the charges for international outgoing calls and an increase in employee-related cost after contractual and regulation liabilities took effect.
The increase in cost was partially offset by higher dividend income from Ufone and better treasury measure, which yielded higher income on saving. Profit before tax for six months up to December 2004 showed a growth of 5.9 per cent and profit after tax improved by 9.4 per cent, compared to the same period last year.
A leading textile company recently installed the country’s first IP telephony network, using Cisco’s productivity- and performance-enhancing solutions. A press handout released to Sci-tech World the other day claimed that the flexible-but-secure system would help the textile company streamline its operations, reduce costs and provide employees with a variety of working solutions over a unified IP voice and data network which links its various facilities.
It added that the company’s managers would be able to view key supply chain-related information through a seamless integration of the ERP system with an XML interface on the Cisco IP phones.
The statement maintained that the Cisco Intelligent Information Network is central to the textile company’s strategy to meet new global competitive challenges the enforcement of WTO posed.
An early warning system was needed immediately in the Arabian Sea to avert disasters similar to the recent Asian tsunami, according to the federal minister for science and technology.
Chaudhary Nouraiz Shakoor Khan said the Institute of Oceanography had been asked to study warning systems already installed in the world, particularly the Pacific Ocean. He said the government’s aim was to make Pakistan a part of the global early warning network, involving more than 50 countries, which would be monitoring changes in the oceans.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP), in an effort to keep its students and faculty abreast of the latest technological and scientific developments, has begun providing digital library services to them through a high-speed internet system.
The CPSP has procured many state-of-the-art and branded servers and desktop computers which will be utilized by students and faculty in their analysis and research work. The college, through its collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, has access to more than 12,500 online journals. — Sci-tech World Report
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