Hon’ble Federal Minister (IT & Telecom), Mr. Syed Amin-ul-Haque paid a visit to National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) Head Quarters on 17th August 2020. On behalf of NTC Management & Staff, Managing Director NTC, Brig (Retd) Viqar Rashid Khan warmly welcomed the honorable Federal Minister. A short briefing on NTC was given which was followed by a visit to the National Data Center (NDC).
MD NTC, Brig (Retd) Viqar Rashid Khan briefed the Minister on the major achievements made by NTC during the past six years with special emphasis on the measures adopted during the Covid-19 Pandemic. MD NTC also briefed the Minister about the establishment of NTC cloud-based Tier-III, ISO 27001 certified National Data Centre in a record time of five months, and provision of Telecom/ ICT services during COVID-19. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, NTC National Data Centre acted as the main platform for hosting all the systems/Web/Mobile applications developed for data acquisition and data analysis that assisted NCOC and other policy/decision-makers for taking appropriate corrective measures.
The Minister was told that NTC is also providing a video conference system for holding important meetings of the PM, Cabinet, ECC, and NCOC, etc. So far, over 429 video meetings have been arranged by NTC flawlessly. He was told that prudent action by NTC has saved the Government from many problems during COVID-19. The minister was further told by MD NTC, Brig ® Viqar Rashid Khan that during his tenure, NTC achieved unprecedented record growth and performance in the field of Operation, Technical, Finance, and Administration as under:-
- Record Growth in Exchanges from 142 to 462, overall growth —- 225%.
- Expansion of exchanges to New Districts/ Cities throughout Pakistan from 66 to 99, overall growth —- 50%.
- ADP completion —- Average 81% annually with 100% completion in FY 2016-17 & 2019-20 which is a record performance in any Public Sector organization.
- Subscribers Growth —- 15%
- Broadband Subscribers Growth —- 115%
- NTC International Gateway Exchange (IGE) has earned approx. US$ 18 Million (Foreign Exchange) since April 2015.
- NTC National Data Center (NDC) was established in a record time of five months.
- NTC NDC is Tier-III compliant cloud-based ISO-27001 certified Data Center.
- NTC almost doubled its Revenue since 2013 i.e. from Rs 2.4B in FY 2013-14 to Rs. 4.2B in FY 2019-20.
- Since 2013, a record increase in NTC Profit @ 440% with Profit of Rs. 578 Million in FY 2019-20.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Syed Amin-ul-Haque, Federal Minister MoIT praised NTC performance and congratulated NTC Management for the phenomenal development of ICT infrastructure for the Public Sector. Minister appreciated MD NTC for his leadership and management during the Covid-19 Pandemic and assured his full support. The Minister said that nobody predicted COVID-19 in 2020. After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Pakistan in March 2020, various other departments were demanding funds and equipment but NTC was ready and fully prepared to meet the emergent situation. My full compliments to NTC and its management. MD NTC thanked Federal Minister for reposing his trust in NTC and assured that NTC is fully committed to achieving Digital Pakistan- a vision of Prime Minister of Pakistan.
