ISLAMABAD (March 25 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said that the telecom sector, which was getting negligible investment only a few years back, had attracted $9 billion foreign investment in the last three years, and expected to get another $4 billion during the next 3-4 years.

He was talking to Rob Conway, Chief Executive Officer of GSMA Association, who called on him along with CEOs of Warid, Mobilink, UFONE, Telenor and Paktel here. GSMA is a global trade association representing more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 territories and countries of the world.

The Prime Minister said Pakistan has become a hub of activity for international and local telecom companies and unprecedented amount of foreign investment flowed into the sector due to the well thought out telecom policy, which was prepared after intensive discussions and debates involving all stakeholders.

He said Pakistan has bright prospects for attracting foreign investment as the economy is growing fast and demand is increasing with a flourishing middle class and the improved capacity of the people to pay.

The Prime Minister said telecom is one of the fastest growing sectors of the country and the combined teledensity has increased from 4.5 percent of the population two years ago to about 40 percent at present.

The number of subscribers of fixed and mobile telephony has increased from 8 million in 2003 to over 50 million in 2006 and the market has the potential to reach 80 million mobile in 2 to 3 years, he added.

The Prime Minister said that the telecom sector has become a major employer of skilled jobs as its exponential growth has resulted in creation of 80,000 jobs directly and 500,000 jobs indirectly. He said people are the major beneficiaries of the telecom sector's success story as 70 percent of the country's population has access to improved telecom services at substantially reduced tariffs.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2007