QUETTA, April 12: Balochistan will soon be linked with the Iranian optic fibre system connecting Pakistan with the Central Asian Republics (CARs).

This was stated by Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) Chairman Akhtar Ahmed Bajwa at a press conference here on Saturday evening.

He said talks were being held in this regard, and expressed the hope that the project would be carried out with reduced cost as prices of the optic fibre technology were falling in the national market.

“It will be less than 40 per cent of the original cost,” he said and added that earlier cost of the plan was estimated Rs600 million.

He said around 1,400 human settlements of Balochistan would be connected to the Central Asian region in the shortest possible time.

The PTCL chief informed that initially the optic fibre system would be linked with the Iranian system near Taftan so that the whole Central Asian region could be brought under the network improving customer services to a great extent.

He spoke at length about the optic fibre system and explained future uplift plans, saying that the PTCL would link the entire coast from Karachi to Jiwani and, later on, connect the modern telecommunication system to the proposed ECO Highway-Gwadar-Saindak corridor.

Replying to a question regarding massive complaints about the faulty service of Paknet and frequent breakdowns of the optic fibre link between Quetta and Shikarpur, Mr Bajwa said the PTCL would link Quetta with Karachi through a parallel line passing through Khuzdar, Uthal and Karachi or through the RCD Highway.

In the first place, he said, the optic fibre link would be established by the end of this year and the whole project for central Balochistan would be completed by 2004.

The PTCL chief said the system would provide an alternate link with Quetta, in case of any eventuality. Similarly, the second line would connect Quetta to Loralai and finally it would be linked with Dera Ghazi Khan, he added.

“Dera Ghazi Khan is already linked from two directions, thus Quetta would get an additional link through Dera Ghazi Khan,” Mr Bajwa said.

About the Internet service in Balochistan, he said that all the 232 telephone exchanges would be digitalized and, with this, all the major townships would get this service.

He said the optic fibre link with Rojhan, Dera Allahyar, Usta Mohammad and the adjoining areas would be connected in the next few days as work on the project was completed in the given time.

The PTCL would be spending over Rs400 million on this project covering more than 1,000km in Balochistan. He said the telephone lines capacity of Balochistan was 135,000 lines and there were around 100,000 subscribers in the province.

Mr Bajwa said the PTCL would use solar energy to provide telecommunication services to the far-flung regions, where there is no electricity.