Pakistan has vowed to not roll back new telecommunications policies that improved transparency and consistency in the sector.
IT Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari told a conference in Islamabad this week that the government had no desire to derail growth that has made Pakistan the second-fastest growing telecom market in the world after China.
"The government has broken the inertia and put in place a system that will not be reversed by any future government," Awais said, according to a report in Friday's Pak Times.
Awais said Pakistan's rapid telecom growth could be credited to deregulation and privatization along with the establishment of a universal service fund to finance infrastructure growth in the countryside.
In addition, he said, the investor-friendly policies the government has implemented had made Pakistan a desirable place for foreign capital.
Copyright 2005 by United Press International
Related stories:
Motorola Demonstrates World's First WiMAX 802.16e Mobile Handoffs in Downtown Chicago
Motorola presented a mobile WiMAX experience last night that included live handoffs during an exclusive cruise along the Chicago River for media and industry analysts in town to attend WiMAX World USA. Attendees experienced uninterrupted mobile applications including web browsing, voice over IP (VoIP) calls, video streaming and MobiTV while moving past access point sites along the route of the cruise.
India clamps down on bloggers, cell users
In a knee-jerk reaction to the recent terror-related blasts in India, the government is stepping up control on the online community that according to the country's telecom regulator, the Department of Telecom (DoT), was running content that was "anti-national" and "against public interest." In a sudden move the DoT issued orders on Friday to all Internet service providers to block 18 Web sites that were blogging reactions following the recent terrorist-activated bomb blasts in Bombay and Srinagar in Kashmir.
Stake tussle erupts on Hutch India network
The two-month-long battle for control at Hutchison-Essar, the Indian cellular venture of the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Group, increased its tempo this week with Hutchison Whampoa also jumping into the race for control of its Indian subsidiary by offering to buy out the minority 5.11-percent stake in the Indian company held by the Hinduja family, an Indian business group.
Globe Talk: Pakistan's shaky step forward
Cell-phones sales seem to know no bounds, with first-time handset buyers continuing to line up in developing markets to purchase basic models, even as hipsters in some of the richest countries in the world continue to trade up their handsets for ever-more multi-functioning versions. When it comes to excitement about the potential of the telecommunications business, the South Asian subcontinent is no exception, as both the private and public sectors have been stepping up efforts to profit from the continued boom.
Internet flaw a boon to hackers (Update)
Computer security professionals crammed into a Las Vegas ballroom on Wednesday for the first public briefing on an Internet flaw that lets hackers hijack traffic on the World Wide Web.
Motorola's Cost-Effective Wireless Ethernet Bridge Enables Connectivity Almost Anywhere
Motorola today announced its new Wireless Ethernet Bridge – the PTP 300 Series. This solution provides enterprises and government agencies with carrier class connectivity while offering a strong return on investment compared with alternatives.
Making sure the internet delivers
European researchers have developed affordable test suites that businesses can use to check whether their software will work with the next-generation internet.
Simple insulation could combat heat, cold and noise
Around the world, an estimated one billion people--mostly in rural villages and the shanty towns surrounding developing-world cities--live in houses whose roofs are nothing more than thin sheets of corrugated metal. These houses become unbearably hot in the summer, freezing in the winter (especially in high-altitude regions), and deafeningly noisy when heavy rains pound on the bare metal.