BARCELONA ( MEDIA )
The Minister of State for IT Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan along with Pakistani delegation had a meeting with VimpleCom Chief Jo Lunder during their official visit to attend Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. VimpleCom is the parent company of Mobilink Pakistan. During the meeting, Mr. Rashid Khan, CEO Mobilink was also present.
Mr. Jo appreciated Pakistan’s government for its keenness and seriousness to make available the latest mobile broadband technologies for the people of Pakistan. Ministry of IT has included additional spectrum in 1800 MHz band to be auctioned for catalyzing the proliferation of 4G services in Pakistan.
Minister for IT highlighted that 98% of Pakistani population is still to be connected with broadband services (3G/4G/LTE) which indicates an enormous opportunity for the companies to invest in this area with a surety of decent returns. She emphasized that presence of 60% youth in population demography of Pakistan makes certain the business case of broadband services for aspirant companies.
Chief VimpleCom brought into discussion the challenge which Over The Top (OTT) services are posing to the business models of telecom operators around the World. It was, however, pointed out that mobile operators need to focus on innovation to be competitive with such services (OTT).
Minister of State for IT ensured him that the government and regulator (PTA) would support and facilitate the telecom industry on all relevant matters including tax rationalization.
The Pakistani delegation comprises of Minister of State for IT, Secretary IT, Chairman PTA, Member Telecom and Executive Director FAB.