Shaza Fatima, the Minister for IT and Telecom, disclosed in a written response to the Senate of Pakistan that the Universal Service Fund (USF) has disbursed a total of Rs 9.5 billion over the last 3.5 fiscal years (2021-2025) to fund telecommunication projects across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
These funds were utilized to enhance 2G, 3G, and 4G services across more than 1,600 mauzas and along 37.43 kilometers of road segments. Additionally, Rs 9.5 billion was allocated for the deployment of 1,159 kilometers of optic fiber cable (OFC) to connect 67 tehsil headquarters, union councils, and towns in the region.
Fatima provided details of 18 projects completed in KP, covering both 2G/3G and 4G network expansions. Key projects include 2G and 3G network upgrades in Chitral Lot (Rs. 16.48 million), Kohistan Lot (Rs. 16.12 million), Khyber Lot (Rs. 60.73 million), Mohmand Lot (Rs. 22.65 million), D.I. Khan Lot (Rs. 62.27 million), and Waziristan Lot (Rs. 83.87 million). Significant funding was allocated for 4G network expansion projects, such as Chitral Lot (Rs. 1.09 billion), Swabi Lot (Rs. 555 million), Swat Lot (Rs. 250.23 million), Bannu Lot (Rs. 251.03 million), and Buner Lot (Rs. 1.99 billion).
Other projects include Rs 196.87 million for the Tourist Destination-K1 project, Rs 170.22 million for Tourist Destination-K2, and Rs 491.60 million for the National Highways & Motorways (NH&MW) Lot-9 (N-35), covering 37.43 km of road infrastructure.
The fiber optic projects include the FATA Package-1 (Rs. 84.49 million) for deploying 132.99 km of OFC and connecting three tehsil headquarters, and the KPK (FATA) Package-2 (Rs. 1.5 billion) for 742.54 km of OFC deployment to connect 37 towns.
Additional funding was provided to projects such as UC-KP-LOT-17 (Rs. 313.11 million) and UC-KP-LOT-18 (Rs. 913.40 million) for deploying 283.11 km of optic fiber, connecting 27 union councils.
These projects were awarded through a competitive bidding process to licensed telecom operators, including Jazz, Ufone, Telenor, Zong, PTCL, Dancom, Nayatel, and other ISPs.
Minister Fatima emphasized that USF projects follow a turnkey service model, wherein telecom operators are responsible for the design, procurement, site acquisition, installation, and commissioning of networks. USF oversees the projects to ensure operators meet their service obligations. Once completed, the networks are made available to the public, with operators adhering to Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules to guarantee transparency. Third-party audits and network verifications are conducted before payments are made to ensure compliance with project standards.
