Telenor Wins Rs. 3.51 Billion USF Project for Kohistan

Universal Service Fund (USF) and Telenor signed the contract agreement worth Rs. 3.51 billion for the provision of telecom services in Kohistan.

Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar witnessed the contract award ceremony for the project to provide Mobile Broadband Internet/ 3G services in Kohistan, at the Ministry of IT here on Wednesday.

Minister of State for IT & Telecom, Anusha Rahman Khan, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Mohammad Yousaf and Deputy Speaker, National Assembly Murtaza Javed Abbasi were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister Dar applauded Ministry of IT and USF for their efforts to promote information and communication technologies in the country and congratulated them on their achievements.

He said that the Ministry of IT and the ICT sector would be provided full support to ensure accessibility of ICT services to people in all regions of the country.

Anusha Rahman was of the view that the Broadband for Sustainable Development projects will take state of the art 3G Mobile Broadband service to far-flung areas at a rapid pace and in almost parity with urban areas of the country.

She informed that a population of around 9 lac people living in 1,283 villages within an area of 11,000 sq. ft of Kohistan lot will benefit from this project.

She added that this project will improve the lives of people, will create job opportunities for them and particularly empower females.

It is noteworthy to mention here that through this Broadband for Sustainable Development Project, areas of Kohistan (Pattan, Dassu, Palas), Battagram (Alai, Battagram), Mansehra (Balakot, Torghar, Mansehra,Oghi), Haripur (Ghazi, Haripur) and Abbottabad (Abbottabad) will be served.

Sharing his thoughts on the development, Irfan Wahab Khan, CEO, Telenor Pakistan, said,the project will be a gigantic stride towards promoting digital and financial inclusion across the country, opening up doors of opportunities for the marginalized communities to step into mainstream development process and another step towards empowering Pakistan.