USF Lauded For Providing Connectivity In Remote Areas

Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication Chairperson Senator Rubina Khalid Thursday appreciated the performance of Universal Service Fund (USF) for providing connectivity in remote areas of the country

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Feb, 2021 ):Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication Chairperson Senator Rubina Khalid Thursday appreciated the performance of Universal Service Fund (USF) for providing connectivity in remote areas of the country.

Deliberating over the performance of National ICT R&D Fund, the committee was informed about its core activities, grants and impact.

The chairperson while appreciating the efforts of the organization stressed the need for more to be done in terms of price regulation of devices to increase accessibility.

The Senate body directed the organization to share revenue details along with the future road-map proposals with it.

The committee was informed that the matter regarding the increase of pension to Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) employees had already been examined and forwarded to the concerned quarter for resolution of the issue.

The displeasure of the committee had also been forwarded to Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET) with the direction to avoid any untoward consequences and resolve the issue without further loss of time.

PTET had also been directed to come up with a self-contained presentation for delivering of the same before the august committee. The members of committee took strong notice of the fact that despite numerous meetings and directions from the standing committee and the ruling of Supreme Court, the implementation of the direction was unnecessarily delayed.

Taking up the matter of sub-letting of Ufone Tower and other regularities; the committee asserted that all details must be provided to it.

Senators Engr Rukhsana Zuberi, Sana Jamali, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Fida Muhammad, Faisal Javed, Muhammad Abdul Rehman Malik, Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh and senior officers from Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, PTCL, USF, Ignite, and FIA also attend the meeting.