The committee expressed its concerns on not receiving the $800 million from Etisalat after the privatization of PTCL while chairman Capt.® M Safdar chaired the meeting. Fior the last 10 years, Etisalat is holding $800 Million.
The committee also ordered the IT Ministry to give a time frame to the owners of PTCL for paying of this pending amount to Pakistani Govt. They also said that PTCL should be auctioned again in open market in case of the failure of the current owner to pay the amount.
The committee also discussed the issue of Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) Haripur on the notice moved by ex MNA Omer Ayub Khan.
The committee was briefed by state minister for IT Anusha Rehman about the history, issues and challenges of TIP.
After discussing the issue in detail, the committee directed the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication to take necessary steps till 30th August 2016 by disconnecting the collections of those houses of Colony Board in Haripur who failed to pay their bills. It was also ordered by the committee to end the occupation of illegal residents of Colony Board.
The issue of amount of Rs. 174 million of TIP towards National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) and Technological Service Corporation (TSC) has not been resolved so far by the ministry of IT & Telecommunication as they used the schools and hospitals of TIP and the bills were paid by TIP.
Earlier, it was directed to the ministry that financial expenses on the schools, colleges and hospitals will be taken by PTCL, TIP and NRTC as these institutes were established on the land of all the three entities but this issue hasn’t resolved so far.
NTC Chairman Waqar Rasheed said that NTC has its own rules and regulations as it is a corporation. The organization is taking no funds or grants from government but giving profit of Rs. 359 million. The committee praised NTC for getting profits but also called the organization to tell the committee about the collection and utilization of Universal Service Fund.
