IT Ministry approves Rs32.13bn budget for USF, Rs3.75bn for Ignite

News Image

MG News | June 20, 2022 at 11:27 PM GMT+05:00

0:00

June 20, 2022: The Policy Committee and Research and Development Fund of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoITT) on Monday principally approved a budget of Rs 32.13 billion for the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Rs 3.75 billion for the National Technology Fund (Ignite) for the financial year 2022-23.

The approval was given in a meeting of the committee, which was presided over by the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Amin-Ul-Haque, said a news release.

USF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Harris Mahmood Chaudhary and Ignite CEO Asim Shahryar briefed the meeting on the performance of their respective organizations and shared the details regarding the budgetary allocation for both departments.

IT Minister Amin-Ul-Haque said the USF had done record work for providing broadband services in the last four years.

“In the 13 years from 2006 to 2019, the number of USF projects was limited to 59, after which directives were issued to speed up the number and enhance the performance. As a result, 65 Broadband Service and OFC projects were launched from 2019 to date, which is a record,” he added.

Syed Amin-Ul-Haque said as a result of telecom policies and the provision of broadband services to un-served and under-served areas, the number of telecom subscribers had reached a record level of 193 million by May 30, 2022. Similarly, the number of 3G and 4G subscribers in the country had crossed 114 million while the number of those using broadband services reached 117 million.

“It is necessary to relax strict conditions, including tax enforcement, and give maximum relaxation to the IT industry and freelancers, otherwise, it is feared that if IT companies and freelancers were not given facilities, including tax incentives, the industry will shut down soon,” the minister observed.

The meeting was attended by Secretary IT Mohsin Mushtaq, additional secretary finance, member telecom, and other officials.

APP

Related News

Name Price/Vol %Chg/NChg
KSE100 136,502.54
259.91M
1.64%
2202.77
ALLSHR 85,079.90
838.35M
1.26%
1061.74
KSE30 41,552.62
97.27M
1.81%
738.33
KMI30 193,330.76
84.69M
0.39%
741.60
KMIALLSHR 56,315.31
366.02M
0.43%
243.06
BKTi 38,498.08
37.91M
4.13%
1526.33
OGTi 28,138.38
5.66M
-0.36%
-101.89
Symbol Bid/Ask High/Low
Name Last High/Low Chg/%Chg
BITCOIN FUTURES 117,740.00 120,695.00
117,575.00
-2495.00
-2.08%
BRENT CRUDE 68.96 69.17
68.85
-0.25
-0.36%
RICHARDS BAY COAL MONTHLY 97.50 0.00
0.00
0.25
0.26%
ROTTERDAM COAL MONTHLY 106.50 106.60
106.50
-2.20
-2.02%
USD RBD PALM OLEIN 998.50 998.50
998.50
0.00
0.00%
CRUDE OIL - WTI 66.68 66.99
66.55
-0.30
-0.45%
SUGAR #11 WORLD 16.31 16.67
16.27
-0.26
-1.57%

Chart of the Day


Latest News
July 15, 2025 at 06:16 AM GMT+05:00

MG Morning Breeze: Updates to Skim before Market


July 14, 2025 at 05:26 PM GMT+05:00

Gold price in Pakistan rises Rs1,600 per tola


July 14, 2025 at 04:59 PM GMT+05:00

Tax reforms focus on public ease, transparency


July 14, 2025 at 04:23 PM GMT+05:00

PSX Closing Bell: Another One Bites the High



Top 5 things to watch in this week

Pakistan Stock Movers
Name Last Chg/%Chg
Name Last Chg/%Chg