Syed Aminul Haque, the minister of information technology and telecommunications, claims that the limitations placed on the letters of credit (LCs) facility for the telecom sector are harmful for the sector.
At the 44th meeting of the Universal Service Fund’s Policy Committee, Mr. Haque cautioned, “There are fears of service disruptions in many places without much-needed technical pieces” (USF).
According to him, the limited LC permits were hindering the import of machinery for modernising mobile networks and interfering with the general effectiveness of the IT and telecom sectors.
“Telecom companies were facing difficulty in importing parts and equipment due to limited permission of LCs and it may also result in a delay in projects for the provision of 4G services in far-flung areas of the country,” said the minister.
The authorities informed the gathering that telcos, IT companies, and the suppliers of their backend equipment had expressed dissatisfaction about their inability to import even the most fundamental hardware needed to run systems.
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The minister agreed to revisit his conversation with the ministry of finance and inform them of the pressing situation.
The meeting approved the release of a development fund of Rs5 billion for the second and third quarters, while Rs8.25 billion had already been granted for the first quarter, out of the budget of Rs32.13 billion set aside for the Universal Service Fund (USF) for 2022–2023.
