Aitizaz Hassan ISLAMABAD, March 18 (INP-WealthPK): The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has approved seven Rs8 billion projects to lay optical fiber cable and provide broadband services in different provinces, with particular focus on Balochistan. These projects, including Rs3.5-billion projects for Balochistan, were okayed by the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Fund (USF), a subsidiary of MoITT. These projects, upon completion, will provide broadband services to over 2.5 million people in the unserved and under-served areas of the country. Since 2018, the number of projects executed has reached a record 56 costing Rs52 billion. Secretary of the MoITT and chairman of the USF board Dr Mohammad Sohail Rajput, who chaired the meeting, said that the provision of broadband services to the residents of the unserved and under-served areas of the country was the need of the hour. He said that approval of Rs3.57 billion projects for Balochistan reflected on the government’s commitment to bring the province on a par with other developed regions of the country. A Rs3.5-billion project to provide 4G services in Qila Saifullah and Zhob districts of Balochistan has been awarded to Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone). The project would be completed in 18 months, and would benefit over 100,000 people in 111 villages. A project to provide broadband services in Jhang, Bhakkar and Toba Tek Singh districts of Punjab has been awarded to Pakistan Mobile Company Limited (Jazz) at a cost of Rs2.25 billion. The project would be completed in one year and benefit over 1 million people in 722 villages. The USF board of directors also approved a project of providing uninterrupted voice and broadband services on a 95-kilometre section of Hakla-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway connecting Dera, Lakki Marwat, Mianwali, Attock and Rawalpindi districts. The project has been awarded to Jazz at a cost of Rs375 million. Similarly, a project to provide broadband service in six mauzas on the outskirts of Islamabad has been awarded to Jazz at a cost of Rs11 million. Jazz has also been awarded a project to provide mobile services in a mauza of Mandi Bahauddin at a cost of Rs22.6 million. A 555km-long fiber optical cable would be laid in Larkana and Qambar Shahdad Kot districts of Sindh by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited at a cost of Rs1.61 billion in one year’s time. It will connect 62 union councils of these districts, providing high speed connectivity to over 1.2 million people. PTCL has also been given a project to lay a 106km-long cable in six union councils of Haripur and Islamabad at a cost of Rs410 million. Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque has congratulated the USF on approval of the projects. He said the MOITT and its subsidiaries, especially the USF, would continue to connect people in remote areas of the country to the digital world.