USF Awards Contracts To Cellular Company For Broadband Coverage On Balochistan's Major Roads

The Universal Service Fund (USF) has awarded contracts to a private cellular operator for extending broadband coverage on Balochistan's highways and motorways

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Jul, 2019 ):The Universal Service Fund (USF) has awarded contracts to a private cellular operator for extending broadband coverage on Balochistan's highways and motorways.

The contracts were given to Telenor, which would also provide broadband services to in Dadu and Hyderabad, a press release received here said on Monday.

The contracts were signed here between the USF and Telenor during the contract signing ceremony of Universal Service Fund (USF) projects "Broadband Coverage on National Highways & Motorways (Balochistan) & Next Generation Broadband for Sustainable Development projects in Dadu & Hyderabad." Addressing the ceremony, Federal Minister for Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunication Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the government was committed to ensure provision of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) facilities across the country.

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said seamless broadband coverage on motorways and highways was imperative for security of commuters.

He said the 'Broadband for Sustainable Development' was the hallmark of USF which was designed to provide telecom services to the un-served Mauzas across the country. The projects in Dadu and Hyderabad would help bridge the digital divide by providing services to the unserved communities.

The facilities, he said, would also open-up new horizons and provide e-commerce facility to the people of those areas.

He said digital services were a rapidly evolving field and could provide better health, education, agriculture and business opportunities to the people in these areas.Khalid said the USF had so far launched multiple projects for the socio-economic uplift of people living in the unserved and underserved areas of Pakistan.

In order to take this further, Ministry of IT was adopting an innovative approach to enable people of Pakistan to reap further benefits from the projects, he added.

The Federal Minister said with the advancement of digitization across the world, the ICTs were being considered critical to achieve socio-economic development. In Pakistan also, the socio-economic uplift was directly linked to provision of ICT services.

He appreciated the efforts of Ministry of IT and Telecom for achieving yet another milestone today and said the event marked one of the greatest landmarks achieved in the field of IT and Telecom in Pakistan.

The Federal Minister also congratulated USF and Telenor for doing such an incredible job and for achieving this landmark.

He said Ministry of IT through USF would continue to work towards achieving the mission of broadband penetration across the country to facilitate the masses in rural areas.