Leghari woos int’l investors at world GSM gala

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari Tuesday said Asian markets had become the hub of telecom growth and investment with Pakistan taking the lead in providing an ideal setting for prospective investors keen on fast growth and quick returns.

He said Pakistan had already emerged as a success story in the telecom sector which had registered exponential growth due to investment-friendly policies, effective and transparent regulation and the trust posed by corporate players and operators in the system.

He was delivering a keynote address to the annual dinner of the GSM (Global System for Mobile) Congress which met in the Spanish city of Barcelona to present the prestigious GSMA Country Leadership Award to Pakistan for achieving excellent results in telecom policy-making and implementation.

Mr Leghari was the Guest of Honor at the prestigious dinner ceremony in which the award was presented. The ceremony was also attended by the Spanish royalty including the king and queen. More than 250 CEOs of leading telecom companies, Ministers of 10 countries and heads of 20 telecom regulatory agencies worldwide were also present on the occasion.

Pakistan became only the second country after Brazil to be picked up for the coveted trophy by the GSMA. The award recognizes the exceptional work by a government, globally in the field of mobile communications policy process.

Awais Leghari told the congress delegates the Asian markets were emerging as the target markets due to vast opportunities for growth and progress but they were still at early stages of market development and there was a need to provide cost-effective solutions in line with public demands for pre-paid basic voice and latest technologies such as EDGE, GPRS, 3G and 4G technologies could have a role in the future.

He stressed acceleration of ICT development and building an information society were two common challenges faced by the developing nations and cellular mobile technologies could play an instrumental role in achieving these objectives in a cost effective manner.

"Some other key areas which require attention of the policy makers around the developing world include infrastructure development, universal access and/or service provision, human resource capacity building, information security, investment facilitation, and sharing of experience and resources between countries," he said.

Awais Leghari told the congress Pakistan had launched a fast-track process of ICT sector development, which constituted an important item of agenda and vision of the government. He said Pakistan had also added redundancy to its existing international connectivity by linking up to SMW 4 with SEA ME WE 3 already available as the optical fibre cable connecting Pakistan to the external world.

He maintained that bridging the digital divide and building an information society through proliferation of telecommunication services could be possible only through quality human resource which required of the ITU member countries to further improve cooperation on developing ICT human resources, strengthen information and resources sharing, and promote participation of government, businesses and educational institutions, either through discussions or e-learning.

The minister said Pakistan had taken a few major steps in this regard by setting up a multi-billion-rupees national R&D Fund to improve human resource in the IT & telecom sector. He said network and information security in the region also posed a major challenge which required collaborative arrangements to strengthen communication and cooperation among the countries.

He also called for joint efforts for strengthening exchanges and cooperation in areas of E-commerce, E-governance and ICTs. He said Pakistan welcomes foreign investment in the ICTs with investors also allowed to hold 100 per cent of equity and 100 per cent repatriation of profits. "In addition, facilitation is extended in every possible way to both foreign and local investors," he added.

Awais Leghari noted that while his country kept the basic policy climate stable, the government was also constantly working on adaptive measures to further facilitate the telecom growth to benefit the consumers. He said plans were under way to introduce mobile number portability (MNP) and implement Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to combat mobile phone thefts within the next few months in the larger public interest.

He pointed out that a comprehensive convergence and 3-G Road-map was also being prepared through a consultative process to address the delivery of converging media and telecoms services through a coherent process. "Frequency and interference issues are being resolved on priority basis to accommodate current and future growth needs while the issue of interference caused by cellular jammers etc. is also being handled appropriately," he added.

The minister said one of the key areas commanding the government focus was the local content development and a simple mechanism for third party content development warehousing and provision over the telecom networks had been put in place to fuel the demand for cellular services beyond basic voice and into advanced data and multimedia services. "I would encourage the CEOs present on this occasion to look into the possibility of tapping this opportunity in the Pakistani market," he said.

He said Pakistan was also in the process of introducing a legislative framework to check anti-competitive behaviour to facilitate sector growth. He said the government was committed to an accelerated sector growth, promotion of investment, and resolution of stakeholders’ problems in an efficient and timely manner through interactive consultative process.

Awais Leghari said the GSM award was "a major honour for Pakistan and recognition of our progressive telecom policies and effective implementation of the deregulation process". He also lauded the role of Telenor, the only permanent board member of the GSM Association amongst Pakistani operators, for playing an instrumental role in promoting the rapid developments of Pakistan’s telecom sector. "The government appreciates Telenor’s commitment towards contributing positively to the health and perception of the Telecom sector in Pakistan and abroad," he said.