Telecom sector attracted $494.4m as FDI last year: PTA Chief

ISLAMABAD—The Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Major Gen (R) Shahzada Alam Malik on Thursday said telecom sector has attracted US $ 494.4 million as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which was 32 per cent of total FDI in the country during last year.
This vital sector of the economy remained one of the major contributors in government revenues with Rs.171 billion last year. Talking to APP, the Chairman said the government collected Rs.20.5 billion as General Sales Tax (GST) and Central Excise Duty (CED). PTA also deposited Rs.27.9 billion to the national exchequer in 2005.
About the overall tele-density in the country, he said it has reached 13.67 per cent in August 2005 as compared to 4.31 per cent in June 2003, showing a growth of 217 per cent over the last two years.
He said by the end of August 2005, total cellular subscribers reached 15.5 million, showing a growth rate of 209 per cent. On the other hand currently, 5.3 million fixed lines are available with a tele-density of 3.43 per cent.
Shahzada Alam Malik said Wireless Local Loop (WLL) service is also getting popularity as including PTCL, four companies have launched their commercial operations. The WLL has around 323931 subscribers and the service is presently available in more than 155 cities across the country. Answering a question regarding development of telecom facilities, he said PTA is giving priority to spread telecom services in four provinces. The Telecom Forums is an effort in this direction.
He said PTA has been conducting Forums to interact with the telecom consumers, service providers, governments of provinces and telecom experts to further improve the services.
The Internet growth in the country is very fast. In 1996, there were only 10 ISPs. Till June 2005, 275 ISP licenses have been issued by PTA and there are over 2 million Internet subscribers in the country.
Over 1,900 cities and towns have Internet accessibility in the country. There are around 48,268 villages in the country out of which only 16,353 villages have telecom access.
Therefore, only 34% of rural areas are provided with telecom access whereas 66% of rural areas are unserved which is a great challenge for PTA.
PTA is taking necessary steps to expand telecom facilities in remote areas of the province. Under the deregulation policy Universal Service Obligation Fund has been created to develop telecom facilities in rural areas.
This fund will be utilized in consultation with provincial government. Mobile operators have been allowed to establish mobile PCOs in the areas where fixed line telephone services are not available.
Introduction of wireless technology - WLL - has paved way to the extension of telecom facilities to far-off areas. A project has also been prepared to establish community based tele-centres where telecom facilities will be shared by the community.—APP.