ISLAMABAD, June 15: Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari on Tuesday said the ministry would soon announce a broadband internet policy to provide fast and effective connectivity to users at cheaper rates.

The minister was speaking at the inaugural session of the three-day 'Pakistan Developer Conference', organized by an international software development firm. Mr Leghari said the departments concerned had completed their tasks and the policy would be announced within a month.

The potential of DSL broadband services in the county has been evaluated and the policy in this regard would be a revolutionary step in the IT sector, he added. The minister said in order to achieve broadband service growth in the country, content and end user industry (sale of personal computers) needed to grow in parallel.

He said the government's policies to liberalize the telecom sector had borne fruits as more and more potential investors from around the globe were seriously looking at the available opportunities.

He also pledged to help the IT industry seeking reduction in costs incurred on the digital cross connectivity. The minister called for bringing the fruits of information technology to the people.

Mr Leghari said the IT ministry was going to launch a programme to provide computers to people on instalments at affordable rates. In this regard, there is a proposal to collect Rs1,000 per month with any of the utility bills from people intending to purchase computers on instalments, he added.

He said the ministry had also allocated a sizable amount to help the local IT industry by creating demand for work for the software development houses. The minister said the deregulated telecom sector in the country was ready to take off as around 100 local and foreign firms had finally applied for land line telephone operation licenses.