Ban on LCs, Lack of Funds Will Make It Difficult to Complete Broadband Projects: Amin ul Haq

According to the latest news, a meeting was recently held under the supervision of the Federal IT Minister. In that meeting, the Policy Committee approved the Rs 18 billion budget for Universal Service Fund for 2023-24. In addition, the Federal IT Minister also approved a budget of Rs 3.2 billion for Ignite. Amin ul Haq also shared his thoughts that the Ban on LCs and lack of funds will make it quite difficult to complete broadband projects.

Amin ul Haq Shared His Thoughts Regarding Ban on LCs

A meeting of the policy committee chaired by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haq approved an annual budget of Rs 18.13 billion for the financial year 2023-24 of the Universal Service Fund and Rs 3.2 billion for the Research and Development Fund of Ignite.

Reports revealed that the meeting was attended by Secretary IT Naveed Ahmed Sheikh, Additional Secretary Cabinet Division, Additional Secretary Finance, Senior Joint Secretary Ali Asghar, Member Telecom Muhammad Umar Malik, Chief Executive USF Haris Mahmood Chaudhry, Chief Executive Ignite Asim Shehryar Hussain, and other members.

During the policy committee meeting, the Federal Minister for IT was told about the ongoing projects of the Chief Executive of the Universal Service Fund. On this occasion, Federal Minister Syed Aminul Haq said that on the one hand, due to limited permission for Letters of Credit, telecom companies are facing difficulties in importing their upgraded systems and equipment. On the other hand, the money available with the Universal Service Fund is insufficient to pay the next year’s budget and ongoing projects, in such a situation, if the amount of Rs 57 billion with the federation is not returned, then there may be problems in the projects and research and development. Moreover, Syed Aminul Haq directed Secretary IT to immediately contact the Finance Ministry for a refund.

Earlier, Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haq met CEO Ufone Hatim Bamtaraf, CEO Jazz Amir Ibrahim, and CEO Telenor Irfan Wahab at his office on Thursday. The telecom operators paid tribute to Syed Aminul Haq for his services to the promotion of IT and telecom sector in Pakistan during the ministry.
The federal IT minister said that it is his mandate to ensure the protection of consumer rights and to take full measures to solve the problems of the industry. He said that he tried his best to maintain a balance between the parties using the services and the parties that provide the services. He said that some of the remaining unresolved issues of the industry are being discussed in the relevant forums and soon positive results will be achieved in this regard.

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