Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque has said that the upcoming 5G auction should be industry-friendly and low-priced.
While talking to ProPakistani in Islamabad today, the Minister said that a meeting on 5G is called every two weeks and all possible steps are being taken at the top level to make it more business-friendly. “I wish the 5G auction is industry-friendly. If we can’t make the spectrum free, the price should be reduced,” he added.
Aminul Haq said the government’s top priority is 5G technology and efforts are currently underway for deployment in major cities in 2023. “The world is moving towards 5G and 6G. If we don’t switch to 5G soon, it will be a big loss,” he explained.
Regarding the successful launch of 5G technology in the country, Aminul Haque noted that the preparations for nurturing sustainable and inclusive growth with technology will be pivotal to expanding Pakistan’s digital connectivity, and everything is dependent on the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
After weeks of clearance and permission issues, the Minister said that the federal government had resolved the issue of pending payments to Google. He also stated that work is currently being done to develop an acceptable mechanism for facilitating such payments in the near future.
He mentioned that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had previously chaired a meeting on the IT and telecommunications industry and that a follow-up meeting has been scheduled for next week. He clarified that all stakeholders have been involved in facilitation and policy support in order to make it a strong sector of the country.
The Minister also acknowledged that the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoITT) has requested an additional Rs. 790 million grant for the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), a 5 percent cash award for the IT sector, and a special award of 1% of total IT exports for the PSEB.
USF Conundrum
Aminul Haque further informed that MoITT has asked for additional funds to expedite work on branding and distributing ‘Made in Pakistan’ products.
On a more pressing matter, the Minister recalled that the federal government had seized Rs. 61.3 billion from the Universal Service Fund (USF) in June 2013. He stated that this money belongs to USF and Ignite and in this regard, the IT Ministry has written official requests to the government to release all pending funds. “For the time being, Rs. 6 billion have been requested for immediate clearance,” the Minister added.
With just 25 connectivity projects underway, the Minister pointed out that development is slow and subject to administrative bottlenecks. He said the USF has only enough money to oversee just a handful of ongoing projects but no additional funds for new ones.
We don’t need 5G at that time.We just need better 4G network which should be provided.we don’t have basic 4G network speed. so we face many issues like Web surfing,data sharing, gaming etc.Comapanies are taking advantage of our unawareness and also keeping fake govt in theik pockets.