An agreement signing ceremony between Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), for provisioning of wireless internet services (EVO) to talented students under Prime Minister’s Laptop Scheme, was held at HEC Secretariat on Friday.
Mr. Anwar Amjad, Director General (IT) HEC and Mr. Muhammad Basharat Qureshi, Executive Vice President (Corporate Sales) PTCL signed the agreement. Mr. Walid Irshad, CEO and President, PTCL and Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC were also present at the occasion.
PTCL and HEC have agreed to establish and define a collaborative relationship, to provide white labelled EVO Wireless Internet Services to the students designated by HEC on special monthly rates. The provision of services shall be made on terms and conditions specifically customized for the said scheme.
As per agreement, students will be offered free EVO devices with specially tailored packages, or they will be able to avail usual EVO packages with 20 percent discount.
HEC shall purchase a total of 100,000 devices and make the payment against the device cost to PTCL as per agreement. EVO devices shall be delivered to HEC in batches within three months, however same will be distributed to all eligible universities/ institutes by PTCL.
HEC shall issue these EVO connections only to designated students.
PTCL said that it will have the to block any devices found to be resold or available for sale in the open market. The device shall be activated within 72 hours from the time a request is submitted by the student at PTCL customer centres.
The service shall be activated on default package, however after completion of one month, the device may be continued on default package or shifted to any standard EVO package with 20 per cent discount.
HEC shall provide all artwork for co-branding for both on the device casing and on packaging of the EVO devices. The package shall also contain guidelines for students telling them the procedure(s) for activation/ reactivation of device, and a list of PTCL service centers available across Pakistan and AJ&K.
Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Walid Irshad, President, PTCL said that this initiative will empower the students of Pakistani universities and make them work more efficiently for a bright future. He stressed that each and every clause of the agreement will be honoured, adding that quality of service will also be ensured. Appreciating HEC’s initiatives for uplift of higher education sector, Mr. Walid said that PTCL is always available to support HEC’s IT and Telecom related endeavours. “We want HEC to prosper and benefit more and more students and researchers of this country”. He added that as a goodwill gesture from PTCL side, all students under this scheme shall be provided three (03) months free internet service without any capping (i.e. unlimited downloads).
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed thanked PTCL management for taking keen interest to work with the Higher Education Commission. He appreciated the proposal of President PTCL for establishing Smart Universities and vowed to work with PTCL for making it happen.
