USF Awards 10 Contracts Worth Rs21bn for Remote Areas Connectivity

The Universal Service Fund (USF) Board approved an award of 10 contracts worth Rs. 21 billion for the connectivity of the remote areas of Baluchistan, Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces. These include high-speed mobile broadband projects, highways and motorways projects and optical fibre cable (OFC) projects. These projects will provide 4G LTE connectivity and backhaul connectivity to approx. 3.5 million people. These will connect 187 Union Councils (UCs) with 1,554 km of OFC. It will provide seamless connectivity to 622 km of unserved road segments on the M-8 motorway and N-35 highway.

USF Awards 10 Contracts Worth Rs21bn for Remote Areas Connectivity

According to the details, the Board approved the award of 5 high-speed mobile broadband contracts worth approximately Rs. over 7.1 billion. These projects will provide 4G LTE services in the rural areas of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. These projects will benefit people living in 262 unserved muazas of Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Multan and Rajanpur districts in Punjab; Jamshoro in Sindh; and Barkhan, Musakhel, Sherani and Sibi in Balochistan. Approximately, it will cover an unserved area of 12,784.91 sq. km.

Additionally, the board approved the award of two high-speed mobile broadband projects for National Highways and Motorways worth approx. Rs. 6 billion. These projects will provide 4G LTE services to commuters on unserved road segments of 622.68 km on the M-8 motorway and N-35 highway respectively.

Similarly, the USF Board also approved the award of three OFC projects worth approximately Rs. 7.7 billion for providing backhaul connectivity to 187 Union Councils (UCs) of Punjab and KPK. Under these projects, USF will deploy a total of 1,554 km of OFC that will benefit over 3.3 million people in the districts of Attock, Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib in Punjab and Bannu and Lakki Marwat in KPK. These projects will connect 684 educational institutions, 223 government offices and 268 health institutions along with mandatory connectivity of 408 BTS towers.

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