Islamabad – February 06,
2019: Universal Service Fund (USF) awarded a contract worth PKR 192 Million to Pakistan’s leading
digital communications company, Jazz. This contract has been awarded by USF
under its Broadband for Sustainable Development Programme. As part of the deal,
Jazz will work towards providing mobile broadband
access to people of North Waziristan Agency, Frontier Region Bannu and Frontier
Region LakkiMarwat. Chief Executive Officer -
Universal Service Fund, Rizwan Mustafa Mir signed the contract with Ali
Naseer, Chief Corporate and Enterprise Officer - Jazz.
Chief
Guest of the ceremony, Federal Minister for Information Technology and
Telecommunication Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, while addressing the audience,
stated that
with constant dedication and devotion, Ministry of IT and Telecom had achieved
yet another significant connectivity milestone. He also added that with such
projects, Ministry for IT through USF would continue to work towards achieving
the mission of broadband penetration across the country to facilitate the people
in rural regions. He said that in addition to Broadband Infrastructure, he
expected USF to launch new e-services and m-services to facilitate digital
lifestyle adoption for the people of Pakistan.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Rizwan Mir,
CEO-USF said that with the signing of North Waziristan contract, Universal
Service Fund’s aim is to provide voice and data services to remote and
underserved areas of Pakistan, where it is most critical for development. He
added that this network would be completed in 24 months for providing 3G/4G and Voice Services to a population of
0.57 million in 401 unserved Mauzas. He further said that with the improvement of
law and order situation in FATA areas, provision of advanced ICT infrastructure
would be a key to the development efforts in the region. He said that we enjoy
great support from Ministry of IT and Telecom as well as the ICT industry in
our common mission to continuously work towards expanding broadband to all
Pakistanis. He mentioned that USF was planning to launch several new broadband
projects in the next few months, including one in South Waziristan.
While addressing the audience,
Ali Naseer, Chief Corporate & Enterprise Officer at Jazz said, “Through this collaboration, Jazz and USF have successfully
bridgedthe digital divide in the country’s remotest region. This is why the
project has special significance for us and in due time residents of 401 administrative muzas will have
access to the country’s fastest mobile broadband connectivity. We are looking
forward to assisting these people in unlocking their potential in an
increasingly interconnected world.”
The USF-Jazz partnership would
also open-up new progressive opportunities for local communities such ase-commerce.
Digital and e-services are a rapidly evolving field and can provide better
health, education, agriculture and business opportunities to the people in
these areas. In order to execute this project, 28 towers will be
installed by Jazz in about a year.
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