In an Agreement signed between Telenor Pakistan and National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) — the official ICT services provider to the Government of Pakistan — Telenor will be providing telecom services to NTC customers across Pakistan through their mobile network.
Under the Agreement, Telenor will provide services like internet dongles, mobile handsets and SIM cards to provide 3G/4G GSM and data services in areas where NTC infrastructure is not available.
The signing ceremony was attended by Brig (R) Viqar Rashid Khan, MD NTC and Mr. Irfan Wahab, CEO Telenor Pakistan. The Agreement was signed by respective delegates.
NTC is the official IT & Telecom service Provider for the Government of Pakistan and has been granted Integrated LDI License to provide ICT services to Armed forces, Defense Projects, Federal Government, and Provincial Governments or as the Federal Government may determine.
It is interesting to see NTC getting services from Telenor for critical resources since it was previously bound to not get internet and telephony services from any private company.
Brig (R) Viqar Rashid Khan, MD NTC expressed that since its inception, NTC has continued to provide the most innovative ICT services to all government departments. He added that the secure ICT infrastructure provided by NTC will subscribers in automating and thereby improving their management and processes.
Telenor started its operation in Pakistan in 2005 for provision of GSM services. Telenor Pakistan has a subscriber base of over 36 million, making it Pakistan’s second largest mobile operator.
MD NTC Mr. Viqar Rashid Khan, while highlighting the achievements of NTC during the past four years, said that NTC is the first operator in Pakistan to establish a Cloud Based National Data Center for the Public Sector.
He said that NTC has witnessed unprecedented financial growth of 359% during 2015-16 and an increase in broadband subscriber base of 36%.
NTC has extended its services from 54 districts/cities to 87 cities including underdeveloped districts in Sindh and Baluchistan.
The number of exchanges increased from 139 (in 2012-13) to 260 in 2016, thereby witnessing an overall increase of 87%.
MD said that NTC utilized 99% of its ADP budget in FY 2016-17. Also NTC is the first to use M2M and P2P networks for extending fixed lines and data connectivity.
He said that Large scale Wide Area Networks of CDNs for Election Commission, State Bank, AGP and other strategic organizations have been established. He mentioned that NTC has also signed a Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) with Microsoft to provide SaaS in the country through its cloud based National Data Centre.
MD NTC further revealed that it is working on establishment of strategically vital submarine cable landing station at Gwader as an alternate route for the existing network.
Brigadier sb Chairman has sold NTC to foreign bidders.