Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The State Minister for IT and Telecom, Anusha Rehman, on Thursday said the government was committed to complete all its milestones to achieve universal connectivity envisaged to connect the unconnected by 2018.

She said this while chairing 47th Board of Directors (BoD) Meeting of USF Co in Islamabad on Thursday. IT Federal Secretary Rizwan Bashir, PTA Chairman Syed Ismail Shah, Member Telecom, Mudassar Hussain, Mobilink CEO Aamir Ibrahim, USF Co CEO Faisal Sattar and other board members also participated in the meeting.

The board reviewed the progress and development on the key projects of ICT services in un-served and under-served areas being carried out by USF Co in far flung and remote areas across the country, with a particular focus on coverage in Balochistan and FATA regions.

The USF Co CEO briefed the board on “Broadband for Sustainable Development Project” through a detailed presentation.

He informed the board that company has formally signed an agreement with Ufone for Khuzdar and Chaghi lots. Moreover, Kohistan, Kharan, Washuk and Kohlu lots are also ready to be rolled out within next few days, he said. He further apprised the board that USF Co has completed 50 percent milestones in Zhob, Sibi, Shangla areas so far and within next six months, we are anticipating this ratio to reach at 75 percent.

The board was informed by the company that BISP’s data have been received and being analyzed for the initiation of “Pilot Project” for provisions of 30, 000 broadband enabled handsets to the women who are active recipients of BISP funds in un-served and under-served areas of the country. The progresses on “ICT for Girls”, “Establishment of Labs at Women Empowerment Centres” and “Telecentres” were also discussed by the board, whereas the board was satisfied with the progress being made on these projects.

The minister said that she along with her entire team at MoIT and USF Co, had accorded particular focus to early childhood IT skill training to young children, particularly girls to achieve this programme of computer lab plus teacher training through Microsoft, which is being executed in rural girls schools of the ICT region as a pilot.

Rahman reiterated that the prime objective behind the USF projects is to provide connectivity to the marginalised and remote areas of the country, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan so that entire Pakistan could benefit from this development. She directed the authorities to gear up efforts to complete their roll outs with utmost transparency and efficiency within given timelines.