The world is moving with a full swing of technology. The rapid technological changes in telecommunications have recently been brought about by the widespread adoption of microelectronics. The economic and multidimensional implications of these technical changes arise because of their impact on the ease and cost of information transfer between locations.
As more and more economic activity becomes concerned with the generation, processing and exchange of information, technical developments which affect this activity are of potentially far-reaching significance. As we have observed elsewhere, telecommunications are the ‘electronic highways’ of the future which will influence the geography of economic opportunity in the emerging ‘information economy’, as much as railways did in earlier periods of profound structural change in the ‘industrial economy’. Same is the case of Balochistan when Pakistan started a state of the art mega project with the collaboration of China known as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In these contours recently the Federal Government allowed 12 new telecom projects to operate in Balochistan. On mutual consent of the Provincial Government, the license has been allotted to all of these companies. The state organs dealing with the telecommunication arena knows the potential of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The market will demand more state of the art technology in Balochistan which will become a pressing issue in the coming years. The pre-mediation of such technical issues gives the leverage to act beyond its sphere of influence.
The consumers of telecommunication services are categorically low in Balochistan. Setting the records straight, around 46 percent of the 12.3 million population has no access to either mobile, wireless or a fixed line network in the geographically largest province of Pakistan. The biggest bidder who took this burden of setting up the largest telecommunication infrastructure in the largest province of Pakistan is Universal Service Fund (USF). Ministry of Information Technology gave carte blanche to this organization as the work is hectic and the time frame is quite limited.
The major service which would be provided by this company will be easy and accessible internet connections all over Balochistan. The 3G/4G technology, basic telephone system and cheap prices would be followed as the market will be touching the sky limits in coming years. According to the USF spokesperson, the current USF projects include 3G services in CPEC adjoining areas such as Kharan-Washuk, Kalat, Khuzdar, Sibi, Zhob, Kohistan, DI Khan, Khyber and Dera Bugti. A major chunk from these 12 projects has been won by UFONE as it was the biggest bidders among others. Ufone has been awarded projects worth Rs14.2 billion in various cities, including Sibi, Kalat, Khuzdar, Chagai, Awaran, Kharan-Washuk and Dera Bugti districts.
These developments definitely will impact the socio-economic circles in Balochistan. Moreover, the lumbering image of Balochistan will be wiped out which will attract foreign investment in Balochistan as well as CPEC. Whenever visitors will visit the place the basic facilities matter the most, hence these technological developments will enhance the potential of the province as well.
