Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) Syed Amin Ul Haque Tuesday said that the limited facility of Letters of Credit (LCs) is insufficient for the telecom sector as it is causing hurdles in the import of equipment for upgrading mobile networking.

The minister made these remarks while chairing the 44th Policy Committee Meeting of the Universal Service Fund (USF).

The IT minister said that telecom companies were facing difficulty in importing upgraded systems and equipment due to limited permission of LCs and it may also result in a delay in projects for the provision of 4G services in far-flung areas of the country.

Earlier, the USF CEO Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary briefed the chair about the ongoing projects.

Rs. 5 Billion Approved USF

The meeting also approved the release of Rs. 5 billion in development funds for USF for the second and third quarters out of the total USF budget of Rs. 32.13 billion for the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23). It also approved releases to Ignite on a quarterly basis in line with the approved budget.

The meeting was attended by Ministry of IT Additional Secretary (Incharge) Mohsin Mushtaq, Senior Joint Secretary, Member Telecom Omer Malik, and Ignite CEO Asim Shahryar and others.

LCs Issue

It is pertinent to mention here that ProPakistani had reported earlier that all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) have requested the Universal Service Fund (USF) for delaying 10 new projects of around Rs 8 billion to be implemented in unserved and under-served areas of the country.

Official sources revealed that CMOs had written a letter to USF and requested for delaying projects as they are facing serious problems in imports due to restrictions and non-opening of LCs.

Source: Pro Pakistani