In a bid to establish state-of-the-art IT and telecom infrastructure in the country, the policy committee of the Universal service fund on Saturday approved 30 projects for the ongoing fiscal year. A total of 18 billion has been allocated for this. The meeting was informed that under the present government, the USF has shown a hundred percent increase in the projects. 25 projects were approved in FY21.
Chairing the meeting, the federal minister for IT and telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque said infrastructure development for uninterrupted high-speed mobile broadband services was essential at national highways.
Optical fiber networks are needed at the union council level across the country is one of the prerequisites for the future digital needs of the country including the introduction of the 5G, Mr. Haque added.
The federal minister said USF was playing a key role in bringing the broadband services and optical fiber projects in rural and remote areas across the country which will help in the fulfillment of the Digital Pakistan initiative.
The upcoming projects of the USF include powering telecommunication sites through solar energy, to maintain sustainability and financial viability in remote areas where the supply of fuel for power generation was difficult.
On the occasion, USF CEO Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary said the project in the Kohistan region has faced delays due to extreme weather conditions and difficult routes while one project was facing delays in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
95pc of projects are progressing as per the schedule he added. These projects are only 5pc of the total projects. USF is a subsidiary of the Ministry of IT which aims to expand the internet and telecom services to remote areas of the country.
The fund consists of 1.5pc of adjusted revenues of the telecom operators and various contracts for the development of IT and telecom infrastructures are awarded through auction and the amount is paid from the fund.
