USF Aims to Provide Broadband Facility in 46 Districts

Universal Service Fund (USF) officials revealed that only 10 percent of the towers are connected through optic fiber in the country while the remaining is connected through microwaves.  The committee recommended that local areas coming in the recently completed fiber optic under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should be connected.

USF officials said that 13000 unserved mauzas covering 15 million population was targeted for voice and data services broadband coverage of which 7200 mauzas covering 10.4 million population have been covered so far. They are further targeting to reach out to 30 million populations in the next five years.

USF Aims to Provide Broadband Facility in 46 Districts

It was also revealed that from a total of 6,061 union councils in the country, 1,051 already have fiber optics network, 1,870 have fiber optics without nodes while 3,140 union councils do not have fiber optic presence. USF has initiated its special project to lay fiber optics network in all the uncovered areas and the Board of Directors has given approval for the project. It was also told that the cabinet has recently approved the project of providing high-speed broadband for 11 uncovered cities including Sukkur, DG Khan, Dadu, Bahawalpur, Mirpurkhas, Larkana, Mastung, Turbat, Chitral, Pishin. The USF aims to provide broadband facility in 46 districts covering a population of 3 crores.

The covered area for voice communication and data has increased manifolds since USF has enhanced its operations. USF officials observed that all projects are allocated as a result of open transparent competitive bidding.