ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed officials to ensure internet with the best coverage was provided to Pakistan's remote and rural areas, particularly in Balochistan, areas of the erstwhile FATA now merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as Sindh.
PM Imran's comments came during a meeting about enhancing and improving Internet coverage in the country.
Information Technology Minister Syed Ameenul Haq, Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, Secretary IT, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairperson, and Universal Service Fund (USF) Chief Executive Officer were among those who attended the meeting.
Internet, the prime minister added, was crucial to ensure easy access to education for the young generation, as well as to help them utilise their true potential. Wide Internet coverage and easy availability were also essential to achieve that objective, he added, terming it the need of the hour.
He directed the USF to take necessary measures to provide easy and cheap internet in schools.
He also directed for a committee — comprising his finance adviser, as well as the ministers for industries and production, planning, information technology, and education — to be constituted to prepare and present their recommendations on the matter.
During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed in detail about the USF's projects to provide internet and improvement in its coverage in remote rural areas over the past two years. He was also apprised of its targets for the current year.
In addition, PM Imran was also briefed about the progress of various internet-related projects in the Lasbela, Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Khuzdar, Kalat, Mastung, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Lehri, Kichi, Sibi, Pasheen, Qila Saifullah, Zhob, Loralai, Musa Khel, and Burkhan districts of Balochistan.
An update on the internet-related projects in Sindh's Ghotki, Qambar Shahdadkot, Naushahro Feroze, Shikarpur, and other districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral, Swabi and Bannu districts, and Punjab's Sahiwal, Multan, Chakwal and Attock was shared with the participants.
The prime minister was also briefed about internet provision in the newly-merged areas of KP. He was told that the USF was especially focusing on laying optic fibre to ensure improved Internet services were offered.
He was told that 1,800-kilometre long optic fibre had been laid in different areas of Balochistan and KP in the past two years, while 4,600 kilometres would be laid in 547 union councils (UCs) during the current year.