3G Services headed towards remote areas of Balochistan, Covering 257 Villages

Already running 4G services in limited regions of Pakistan along with 3G mobile broadband across the country, which is still not fully deployed yet, is now headed to reach Balochistan in very remote locations.

USF – Universal Service Fun has awarded a contract worth Rs. 2.33 billion to Ufone (Pak Telecom Mobile Limited) for the launch of 3G services in the 257 villages of Lasbela and Avaran districts of Balochistan.

The project will provide 3G services (mobile broadband) to the un-served population of the said districts estimated as 196,177 that covers 269 Mauzas in Balochistan with an approximate covering area of 39,434 square kilometers. For the purpose, 72 new mobile towers (BTS) will be installed in the regions.

For instance, in Awaran district, the project will cover tehsils/sub tehsils including Awaran, Jhal Jao and Mashkai. While in Lasbel district, the regions included are Bela, Lakhra, Liari, Uthal, Dureji, Hub, Sonmiani and Kanraj.

Acting Chief Executive Officers of USF and Ufone, Haaris M Chaudhary and Ufone Nadeem Khan respectively signed the contract while Ishaq Dar – Finance Minister and Anusha Rehman – State Minister IT&Telecom were also present at the occasion.

“Several projects for provision of IT services in remote areas of Baluchistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are currently under implementation,” – said Anusha Rehman. “IT ministry is working for maximum digital connectivity in the country.”

While the the issue was not related to the event, Ishaq Dar commented about the curse of load shedding which he claimed to get rid of in 2018.

If considering the previous working of USF, the organisation has also provided telecommunication facility to 310 under-served towns and provided over 6400 km fiber optics so far. Futher, USF has established 50 computer labs in Bait-ul-Maal for women empowerment centers as stated by the acting CEO of USF.