ISLAMABAD: IT & Telecom Minister Syed Aminul Haque on Tuesday said that the limits set for letters of credit (LCs) facility for the telecom sector were insufficient.

“Without much-needed tec­hnical parts there are fears of service disruptions in many areas,” Mr Haque warned while presiding over the 44th Policy Com­mittee meeting of the Universal Service Fund (USF).

He said that limited permissions for the LCs were creating obstacles in the import of mobile networking upgrading equipment that was disrupting the overall performance of the IT and telecom sector.

“Telecom companies were facing difficulty in importing parts and equipment due to limited permission of LCs and it may also result in a delay in projects for the provision of 4G services in far-flung areas of the country,” the minister noted.

The officials informed the meeting that complaints have been received from telcos, IT companies and their backend equipment suppliers that they were facing difficulties to import even the essential equipment needed to operate systems.

The minister said that he would talk to the Ministry of Finance again and inform them about the grave situation.

The meeting approved the release of a development fund of Rs5 billion for the second and third quarters out of the budget of Rs32.13bn allocated for 2022-23 for the Universal Service Fund (USF), while for the first quarter, Rs8.25bn had already been released.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2023