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Govt to subsidise internet service

TAHIR DHINDSA

ISLAMABAD: The government will subsidise the provision of internet service through the universal obligation fund which is in offing, Chairman Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) Mian Mohammad javeed said on Thursday.

Chairing a session in seminar of sharing information and knowledge co-hosted by British Council UNDP and ICUN, he said, the proposal has been submitted to the government for its final approval.

According to the proposal a fund called universal obligation fund would be created at the federal level out of which the modern information services would be provided to the remote communities at subsidised rates purely for developmental considerations.

The cost of the fund would equally be born by all partners including private industry and the government, he said. Javeed said, the government was looking at different issues regarding the information and communication industry.

He said moderanisation is being carried on in telecommunication industry so that the country should keep its pace with the international market.

Earlier, many speakers from private industry also spoke on the topic.

Seminar was a sequence of seminars held earlier at Karachi and New Delhi.