ISLAMABAD: The Universal Service Fund (USF) on Thursday awarded a Rs2.8 billion contract to Ufone to launch mobile and 3G internet services in Dera Bugti and Kharan-Washuk areas of in Balochistan.

Ufone will begin work immediately to connect nearly 600,000 people living in 600 mauzas of Balochistan to cellular and internet services within two years.

The contract, Broadband for Sustainable Develop­ment Projects in Baloch­istan, was signed between the USF and Ufone. Minis­ter of State for Information Technology and Tele­com­mu­nications Anusha Reh­man and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar attended the ceremony.

The USF, established under the IT ministry, has been mandated to spread mobile services to far-flung and underserved areas across the country.

Incubation centres

Besides, a contract to establish National Incubation Centres in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar was also signed at the event by the National ICT Research and Development Fund and TPL Trakker, Lahore University of Management Sciences and LMKT.

According to the USF chief executive officer Haris Choudhry, the broadband for sustainable development project will provide mobile broadband internet/3G service to population of nearly 555,000 in Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Kharan-Washuk districts.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Dar said that these development projects in Balochistan would enable the increase of internet coverage in the country. He said the establishment of incubation centres would assist in channelling the entrepreneurial drive among young graduates in the country.

The finance minister said that the government had announced special incentives for the IT sector in the 2017-18 budget.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2017