Internet and broadband services have been extended to 15,000 remote villages and 28 million people in the preceding four years, according to the Universal Service Fund (USF).

While talking to the media, an official from the ministry of Information Technology said that during the last four years, a lot of progress has been made in terms of internet penetration into the country. He said that 79 new projects have been signed with various parties. “The total worth of these contracts is more than USD 266 million. This represents one of the busiest time frames for the work of USF,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said that “during the fiscal year 2022-23, a total of PKR 32.13 billion has been allocated to USF. The main motive behind the allocation of these funds is to complete the ongoing projects and start new projects in broadband service provision.”

“During the 13 years of operation from 2006-2019, only 59 projects were undertaken. Thereafter, the government directed the IT ministry to speed up the pace of work in internet provision. Therefore, we launched a total of 65 broadband and OFC projects from 2019 till date. This is a record in itself,” he said.

“Due to these extra efforts by the ministry and the stakeholders, the number of subscribers of telecom services has increased to a record level of 193 million, as of May 30, 2022. Most of the new subscribers are from underprivileged regions of the country, representing a new level of access to internet and broadband services,” he continued.

“The number of 3-G and 4-G subscribers is also increasing in the country. Their number has already crossed the mark of 114 million, which is a fine achievement. The total number of broadband subscribers has crossed the mark of 117 million,” he said.

“Pakistan is one of the fastest growing ICT economies. The number of subscribers and internet users is growing exponentially. This is evident from the increase in IT exports of the country since a lot of younger people have started to earn money online. Pakistan’s ICT sector is growing rapidly to make use of the opportunities presented by the ever-changing landscape of Information Technology ecosystem,” he said.

Commenting on the investment climate of the country, he said that “this is the best time to invest in Pakistan. A lot of investment is already coming in. But we need more investments in the advanced domains of ICT to further gain pace and attain high levels of growth,” he concluded.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk