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The first meeting of a high level Committee constituted by the Prime
Minister to review the reform process in the Telecom sector of Pakistan met
under the Chairmanship of Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for
Privatisation & Investment here today.
Dr. Hafeez Shaikh urged upon the Committee to accelerate the pace of reform
process in the Telecom sector to extend maximum facilities to the quality
players of international repute for substantial enhancement of investment in
the sector. Pakistan was emerging as a hub of investment activity in the
region due to the continuity and consistency of the Government's investment,
trade and economic policies, he said.
The Minister further stated that the Government's economic policy and the
reforms process were focused to give efficient and quality services to the
consumers and to benefit the people. The Government had opened up the telecom
sector through the recently announced Telecom deregulation policy and through
the independent regulatory regime the investor's interests were also being
safeguarded, he added.
He said that any applicant who fulfilled the licensing requirements would be
eligible for a license as envisaged in the deregulation policy for the Telecom
sector. However, with a view to achieve main objective of increasing
teledensity in Pakistan, which was (2.7 %) very low by international
standards, the Government had put in a mechanism to facilitate the investors
in accordance with the global trends, he added.
He underlined the need to promote infrastructure development, expansion and to
increase teledensity. The meeting also reviewed the privatisation activity in
the sector. Mr. Owais Ahmed Khsn Leghari, Federal Minister for Information
Technology and Telecom attended the meeting as a special invitee, while senior
officials from the Ministries of Finance, IT & Telecom, PTA and PTCL were also
present in the meeting.