ISLAMABAD, Jan 30 (APP): Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Major General (R) Hafeez ur Rehman on Tuesday said that the PTA was taking many collaborative efforts to promote ease of doing business and attract foreign investment.
Talking to a delegation of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) led by its President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari which called on him, Hafeez said that such collaborations would help address industry challenges and facilitate more favourable business environment.
He said that Pakistan’s telecommunications and digital technology sectors were undergoing transformative changes, driven by the development of comprehensive regulatory frameworks.
“The PTA is working to provide customers with affordable and high quality services and ensure reasonable returns to investors,” he said, adding that the mobile phone sector had achieved a remarkable growth of 29% during the last five years due to which mobile services were available to 90% of the country’s population while the broadband subscribers had soared to over 130 million.
He assured that the PTA would continue to focus on improving coverage, access and quality of services to promote ease of doing business and attract more investment.
Speaking on the occasion, ICCI President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that in the competitive business environment, availability of affordable telecommunication services and digital technology was very important for businesses and urged the PTA to focus on it to promote ease of doing business.
He said that suspension of mobile broadband services badly affected the digital transactions of businesses, and caused them significant losses, and urged the PTA to address the issue.
He said that Pakistan needed to promote indigenous manufacturing of mobile phones and their parts, and for that the PTA should bring further reforms in the regulatory framework to attract foreign investment.
He also urged the PTA to play a role for some good broadband packages for students and SMEs. He assured that the ICCI would cooperate with the PTA in efforts to make Pakistan an IT hub to promote digital economy and exports.