Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman has said that during the last several years, various governments have not spent a penny in telecom sector, adding that internet speed can be improved with fiber connectivity and we have not paid attention on it, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
PTA Chairman Major General (r) Hafeezur Rehman was speaking during meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology.
PTA chief advised federal government to learn lesson from Indian Premier Modi who had spent record 13 billion dollars on fiber cables connectivity. He claimed that PTA has given 1700 billion revenue to the government during the last six years but in return the government had not spent a penny on the system upgradation.
MQM MNA Mustafa Kamal asked the PTA chief to share plan how the government can improve connectivity. IT Ministry was working on fibrisation policy, Chairman PTA replied. IT Ministry’s officials told the meeting that HR Development Program of National Semiconductor was being launched and the semiconductor project was being awarded to the Pakistan Software Export Board.
IT Ministry’s officials said that there were many semiconductor experts in Pakistan. IT committee member Umair Niazi said that IT was an industry of 500 billion dollars, country can generate big revenue from it. Committee’s another member Ahmed Atique said that Pakistan was far behind in semiconductors.
Secretary IT said that government-to-government agreements were being made for the development of semiconductors. “A semiconductor design is selling for millions of dollars”, Ahmed Atiq said.
An official of IT Ministry said Rs6 billion were allocated for Karachi IT Park this year but this was only in the design phase resultantly this amount could not be spent. On the occasion IT Committee said that Ministry should work quickly on the Personal Data Protection Bill. Minister is on board on IT Data Protection Bill and work on it will be completed soon, Secretary IT replied.
National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology also reviewed the issue of Rs 78 billion owed by LDI Telecom companies. Chairman PTA said cases of LDI companies were pending in courts.
He said PTA has three options to recover dues from these companies. The first option is government can get lum sump amount from LDI. Another option is to collect dues in installments while the third option was to suspend the licenses of these LDI companies, Chairman PTA said.
He also told the meeting that if LDI licenses were cancelled, 50 percent ATM service will be affected as the entire banking infrastructure runs on LDI. Recovery of dues is possible in installments, Chairman PTA said.
The principal amount owed by LDI companies is 24 billion, Chairman PTA said. The late payment surcharge owed by these companies was more than 50 billion. These companies earn in dollars and should not be treated lightly, Barrister Gohar said, adding that recovery of dues in installments should be the last option.
To a question about Telecom Tribunal, IT Ministry officials said Telecom Tribunal was not operational yet. On the occasion, Barrister Gohar questioned about the status of Starlink’s application. Parliamentary Secretary Sabine Ghori said that two years ago Starlink applied but we had no regulatory authority. Apart from Starlink, a Chinese company has also applied, Chairman Committee said.
Chairman Committee lamented that from 2022 to 2025 only discussions were going on. We issue a directive to complete Starlink license as soon as possible, Chairman Committee but committee member Ahmed Atiq said data security was a big issue these days. “I don't trust Starlink, we don't know if our people's data will be safe or not”, said Ahmed Atique.
Reporter: Waqas Azeem