President and Prime Minister AJ&K, federal minister for information and federal minister AK&GB were also present on the occasion. Chairman PTA Dr.
Mohammed Yaseen and DG SCO General Khalid Rao informed the Prime Minister about the efforts made for development of telecommunication facilities at AJ&K in general and at Neelum Valley at particular.
The deregulation of the telecom sector brought about a revolutionary change which saw huge increase in subscriber base, teledensity and coverage area.
In order to extend the project up to Taobat, the last town of Neelum Valley, Universal Service Fund (USF) may be utilized. At present about 1.96 billion Rupees have been deposited by the telecom operators as USF for AJK which is more than sufficient to provide telecom coverage to all the important towns of the Neelum Valley.
The Prime Minister stressed upon need of telecommunication services for socio-economic development of the area. He appreciated the efforts made by PTA and ensured provision of necessary funds in order to expand telecommunication services to other parts of Neelum Valley.