Secretary General ITU visits PTA Headquarters | InfoZonePK

ITU-PTA

Secretary General International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Mr. Houlin Zhao visited Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Headquarters. Chairman PTA, Dr. Syed Ismail Shah, Mr. Ioane Koroivuki , Regional Director ITU Asia-Pacific, Mr. Abdul Samad, Member (Compliance & Enforcement) PTA, Mr. Tariq Sultan, Member (Finance) PTA, Mr. Shahzad Sami Qureshi, Executive Director, Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), DGs of different Divisions of PTA and FAB and senior officers of PTA were present during the visit. 

Secretary General ITU expressed his great satisfaction on telecom development capacities of Pakistan and acknowledged the achievements of Pakistan in telecom sector. He expressed his views on Over the Top (OTT) services and said that member countries are trying to address issues related to OTT services. It’s an area where contribution from PTA will be helpful. Telecom services are associated with appropriate regulation that can ensure fair competition and foster innovation. He appreciated the role of PTA and Chairman PTA for the development of telecom sector of Pakistan. 

Earlier, Chairman PTA briefed Secretary General about the functions of PTA, regulatory initiatives taken by it and overall performance of the telecom sector.  The ITU Secretary General was informed about the mobile broadband growth after launch of 3G/4G services. Chairman PTA mentioned that in 2015, the mobile broadband growth rate of Pakistan remained 185.42% which is highest in the region. He informed them that due to investor friendly policies of the Government of Pakistan and fair regulatory regime adopted by the telecom regulator, Pakistan’s telecom sector has been able to achieve unprecedented growth in the recent years. 

The Chairman further said that Broadband is an enabler for accelerated socio-economic development. He said that we are connected with communities through modern technologies. He said that the use of ICTs are very common in our societies, where everyday people make online communications. He said that our emphasis now is on m-commerce, m-agriculture, m-education, m-Health. It is the time to open doors of opportunities to our young innovative minds, he added. Executive Director FAB also briefed Secretary ITU on the activities performed by FAB. 

At the end Chairman PTA presented souvenirs to  the Secretary General ITU and Regional Director ITU. The Secretary General planted a tree at PTA. Previously also, visiting Secretaries General of ITU had planted trees at PTA.