Islamabad: “We are committed to take all possible measures for the growth of telecom sector of the country. All stakeholders of the industry will be taken on board before finalizing the policy for 3G broadband technology and after an extensive analysis and discussion, this technology will be launched in the country” said Minister In charge for IT, Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa while addressing a seminar on 3G mobile broadband technology as chief guest, organized by PTA in collaboration with Qualcomm and Central Asian Cellular Forum (CASF) here today.

On this occasion Secretary IT, Naguibullah Malik was the guest of honour while Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Dr. Mohammed Yaseen moderated the panel discussions among the participants of the event. Representatives from the IT & telecom industry and academia also participated in the seminar titled “Connecting Pakistan Through 3G Mobile Broadband”.

Addressing the seminar, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa said that the telecom sector of Pakistan has seen unprecedented growth ever since the deregulation of the industry. He said that currently our teledensity stands at 63.5% and we are well on our way to cross the 100 million mobile subscribers mark in the near future. The past two years have also seen broadband growth of 150%, never before experienced, he added.

The Minister said that the recent auction results of 3G spectrum, in India, ending at US$ 15 billion is a sign of bullish mood of investors in introducing latest telecom facilities in this region. He appreciated PTA’s initiative of inviting all stakeholders of the sector at one platform to have a healthy discussion on challenges being faced by the Pakistan’s telecom market for the launch of 3G technology. He said that PTA should arrange such forums in other provincial capitals of the country as well to enlarge the scope of input being received from the all concerned stakeholders.

On this occasion, Mr. Naguibullah Malik said that telecom sector of Pakistan has seen an admirable growth during the last five years which is clearly reflected by the sharp rise in teledensity from a meager 12% to 63% since 2005. He said that before the deregulation we could only guess benefits of telecom for our people but today we exactly know how it benefits each segment of society and age group. Our job is to ensure cheap and easy availability of modern technology to the people; they will learn how to make best of the services to their advantage, he added. He said that 3G Mobile Broadband will ensure availability of a number of data intensive value added services such as real-time access to medical records, on demand TV, e-education, cloud computing, video calls real-time weather forecasts and advisory for farmers and many more.

While chairing the panel discussions Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammad Yaseen said that 3G can act as catalyst in the proliferation of broadband and it can bring positive growth in all segments of the national economy. He asked mobile operators to give serious consideration to the early launch of 3G technology in Pakistan so that the consumers can avail latest telecom and data services.  

Senior Director Global Business Development Qualcomm, Raheel Kamal also talked on the occasion. During the Seminar, Local and international experts also delivered presentations on 3G mobile Broadband service. The objective of this seminar was to deliberate upon the regulatory, policy and technical challenges in connecting Pakistan through 3G Mobile Broadband. During the seminar participants gave their recommendations for the introduction of 3G services in Pakistan.

Khurram A. Mehran

Director (Public Relations)