Making it clear that it won’t permit the Special Communication Organisation to operate across the country on commercial basis Government has denied SCO’s demand to operate across the country as it demanded amendments in the establishment acts asking MoIT to allow it work across the entire country. It also demanded permission for the launch of mobile services with numerous concessions.
What is SCO?
It is a public sector organisation established in 1976 to develop, operate and maintain telecom services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.It has developed massive IT and Telecom infrastructure including the laying down of over 2,500 KM of optical fiber cable network across the whole northern area.
Last Thursday, Member telecom Mudassar Hussain informed the Senate subcommittee on Delegated Legislation that the SCO’s proposed amendments for the enhancement of operations throughout the Pakistan were denied by MoIT because the demanded amendments were against the stated policy of Government.
He termed,
“The amendments proposed by the SCO to enhance operations throughout Pakistan were principally disagreed by Ministry of Information Technology being against the stated policy of the government, international commitments and other commercial agreements in the telecom regime.”
Basically, this sub commission came to existence for considering the proposed amendments to the “Telecommunications Re-organisation Act 1996” allowing the SCO to enhance its areas of operations across the country.
The subcommittee ordered IT ministry and SCO to settle the matter and make a report, but the both parties could not come to an agreement during the previous 6 months.
Mudassar Hussain, for not witnessing any reason for the SCO’s demand for amendments in the act to allow its operations, said,
“Creating another wholly government-owned telecom player in the country ran counter to the government’s deregulation policy of 2003 and the objectives of the Telecom Act. It will be counter to the revolutionary mobile and broadband telephony regime.”
