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Editor’s note: In last decade, when Former Pakistan President Pervaiz Musharraf was at the pinnacle of putting the country in a stable economic position, we had put in a request to the Presidential Secretariat to have his comments on where IT and Telecom were headed. Though we never got a chance to conduct the interview in person as the followup we wanted, the Secretariat was kind enough to have the former President’s remarks to our questions. Of course, this was thrilling enough considering this was the same President who continually talked about IT and Telecom being in the top 5 sectors that would change Pakistan as we know it. Here’s a portion of the transcript that we ran in Netxpress back in early 2007.

What is your vision for the Information Technology and Telecom’s role in the future of Pakistan?

At the World Summit on the Information Technology, the global leaders endorsed that we should move towards creating an Information Society in order to compete with services in these two sectors. We have come a long way in putting Pakistan on the right track in pursuit of sustainable growth in IT and telecom. It is evident from the fact that almost 2% of GDP comes from Telecom alone, however we still need to do a lot more in terms of promoting growth of these sectors and to attract FDI and business from around the world. Lower costs of factor of production in our country should prove as a catalyst in achieving this objective.

What ground work has been set out in the few years to ensure that Pakistan reaches this goal?

Pakistan allows foreign investment in the telecommunication sector on a repatriable basis. In addition, foreign investors are now allowed to hold 100% repatriation of profits (previously it was restricted to maximum of 60% profit repatriation).

Government of Pakistan in view of the emerging global trends and growing national needs for telecommunications development, approved following three policies for deregulation and opening up of the telecom sector: fixed line telecom deregulation policy, cellular mobile policy and broadband policy. Major objectives of these policies are to promote infrastructure development, increase in foreign and local investment in the sector, harness local entrepreneurship, increase quality and choice of affordable services for businesses and consumers, extend competition amongst licenses, implementation of these policies in a fair and transparent manner have thus far achieved tremendous success. Several of these new licenses have started their operations in the country resulting in paradigm shift in the telecom landscape in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s telecom sector is cited as a model for developing countries because of success of its policy and regulatory framework, deregulization, privatization, excellent growth and investment in the sector.

As a very important initiative towards providing universal access to telecom services and to increase out reach of these services to rural communities, the Government has brought legislation for developing Universal Service Fund (USF) framework to enhance tele-density and to provide basis telecom services to the under/ unserved areas of the country. Contributions raised from USF would be transparently deployed and the prime focus on Human Resource Development and Capacity Building.

Other major initiatives that the government is actively pursuing include:

• Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
• Introducing/ Implementing Equipment Identity Register (EIR) to combat threat of mobile headset theft in the larger public interest.
• Convergence and 3G roadmap being prepared with a consultative process.
• Human Resource Capacity Building plans have been identified and dialogue being carried out with the stakeholders and universities to launch projects.
• Frequency and interference issues are being resolved on priority basis.
• Further legislative3 framework is underway to check anticompetitive behavior to facilitate sector growth and all rules to support policy to be put in place with in current calendar year.

In addition to the phenomenal growth of in telecom sector during this time, if the Government is to create an enabling environment through sound policy and facilitation, the privatization of PTCL will help introduce new innovative services to the customer and create a health competition in the sector.

What kind of opportunities do you see for the IT industry to help promote a more positive image of Pakistan in the international market?

The image of Pakistan and growth of the IT industry have a close relationship according to our surveys and reports by professional consultants the distorted image of Pakistan, which is largely based on misinformation has a negative effect on the industry. When business visit Pakistan, they are pleasantly surprised that the situation on ground is quite different then the preconceived image. We are taking various measures to improve this perception. As the IT industry grows in Pakistan and attracts more international players, they would get a first hand view of the country and the positive image would begin to emerge.

Except for increasing the number of foreign investment into Pakistan; how else would you measure the IT and Telecom industry’s success?

The success of the IT and Telecom industry has various parameters with FDI being only one component. The contribution to GDP, creation of jobs and the availability of the services to citizens will enable the creation of a competitive industry.

When the IT policy was created it was first time in the country’s history that the private sector has created something for the government to implement. How open will the government of Pakistan be to changing or creating policy in order to help boost the local industry?

The government is quite receptive to the feedback and the contribution of the private sector. This is evident in the process followed for the development of major policy documents in recent years including the fixed line telecom policy, electronic transaction ordinance and electronic crimes act. In all these cases, workshops were held with the private sector and documents were placed on the web for general feedback before they were submitted to the cabinet.

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