SUKKUR, Jan 4: Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Leghari has said that the government is working on a package on the tariff of local telephone calls, which will be shortly announced.

Speaking at a press conference at a hotel here on Monday, he said that due to competitive market, telephone call rates would be slashed down by 25 per cent in two years.

He said that the country had become economically strong and earned a good reputation in the world. As a result, foreign investors were ready to invest more than Rs100 billion in its IT and telephone sector, which would bring about revolutionary changes.

Mr Leghari said that with this investment, telephone call rates would decrease to a considerable level and people would get a vast choice for getting telephone connections.

He said that they could not allow Indian companies to establish mobile telephone network in Pakistan as the country's interests and security were supreme to them. However, he invited Indian companies to invest in information technology, computers and relevant fields in Pakistan.

He said that they were trying to create a competitive environment in the country, and the government did not create any hurdle in free trade. The minister said that the PTCL wanted to indulge in open trade and it was wrong that the government wanted its monopoly in the communication sector.

He said that more job opportunities were available in the IT and telecommunication sectors as compared to other departments. Answering a question, the IT minister said that five million telephone connections had been provided in the country over the past 55 years whereas 2.5 million connections had been provided last year only.

He said that during the next one year, more than 20 million people would benefit from the wireless telephone connection. He said that the PTCL was providing wireless telephone connection with a mobile telephone set for Rs3,400 and it had provided mobile phone connections free of cost.

On a political note, he said that the sense of security prevailing in the country was due to the uniform of President Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, which was crucial for solidarity of the country and eradication of poverty. He added that the Musharraf government had rid the country of debt.