ISLAMABAD, Sept 8: Information Technology Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Thursday said the government was bringing legislation to check anti-competitive behaviour, facilitate growth and ensure continuity of policies in the telecom sector. “We are aggressively working on the data protection act and e-crime bill alongside several other key initiatives to ensure that the telecom sector keeps its growth up and achieves new milestones in the coming days,” Mr Leghari said while speaking at a two-day second South Asia Mobiles Summit 2005.

Pakistan’s telecom sector is in the midst of an exponential growth with over one million new mobile phone subscribers being added every month, he said, adding that the proposed universal service fund would be tabled before the Parliament in next couple of weeks to make the fund operational.

The fund, for which every telecom operator contributes 1.5 per cent of its revenue, would be used to reach out far-flung and thinly-populated areas, the minister said.

Only a couple of years ago, a call made from Islamabad to Karachi used to cost about Rs40, but now it cost less than Rs4 which reflected on the scale of growth witnessed in the sector in recent years, he said.

Though mobile phone is popular within urban limits, it is gaining a more robust response in rural areas where its affordability has attracted a large section of the population to get connected, the minister said.

Besides affordable rates, another reason for this fast-paced spread of telecom services is growing purchasing power in the countryside.

As competition grew in the sector, the prices would come down further while the quality of services and products would go up, he said.

“I foresee Pakistan emerging as an interesting place in the next few years for investors in the area of infrastructure development,” he observed.

The government is also considering incentives to promote infrastructure sharing in the telecom sector, he said, adding that the government would also bring out incentive-based policies without changing the spirit of the existing ones.