Special Report
ISLAMABAD: Federal cabinet, through circulation of summary, has granted its approval to the appointment of new nine-member Board of Directors (BoD) of Universal Service Fund (USF) a period of three years.
According to sources, cabinet has approved the appointment of nine-member BoD of USF a period of three years.
The Universal Service Fund (USF) was established under Section 33A of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 for provision of telecom services in unserved and underserved areas of the country. The Fund comprise of contributions from telecom operators and is utilized through USF Company established by the federal government under Section 42 of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 (now Companies Act, 2017).
As per Rule 11 (1) of the Universal Service Fund Rules, 2006 and Article 34 of the Articles of Association of the USF Company, the Board consists of nine Directors including Secretary IT as its Chairman. Three Directors are from public sector while five of the Directors are nominees of fixed line operators, cellular operators, financial expert, telecom or information communication technology expert. In addition, legal expert and CEO of the Company are appointed for a period of three years in terms of Rule 12 (3) of the Rules read with Section 161 of the Companies Act, 2017. Revised composition of USF Company Board as approved by the federal government vide SRO 225 (1) /2023 dated 22-02-2023.
The process for nomination of Board of Directors of USF Company was initiated through advertisement in newspapers and USF website for Mobile Cellular Licensees and Fixed Line Licensees. Nomination of Independent Directors was made in pursuance of section 10 93) of the State-Owned Enterprises (Governance and Operations) Act, 2023.
A meeting of the Board’s Nomination Committee was held on 27-04-2023 as per section 10 of the Act ibid.
The Nomination Committee after thorough evaluation regarding appointments from the panel for each category on USF Board, recommended the following nominees for their appointment as Board Member/ Director/independent Director for a period of three years.
As per the latest composition of the USD Board, Secretary, Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication as Chairman/Ex-Officio Director), Chairman PTA as Member (Ex-Officio Director), Member Telecom as Member (Ex-Officio Director), Ms. Sofia Saeed (Legal Expert) as Member/Independent Director, Hatem Bamataraf, President/CEO, PTCL (nominee of fixed line licensees) as Member/Director, Wang Hua, CEO, Zong/CMPAK as Member/Director, Ms. Ayla Majid (Financial Expert) as Member/Independent Director, Muhammad Yousuf, Telecom or Information Communication Technology Expert as Member/Independent Director and Chief Executive Officer of the USF Company as member/Director.
In terms of Cabinet Division’s U.O. dated 16-03-2018, the Prime Minister has seen and approved placement of the summary before the cabinet.
Furthermore, the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication has seen and authorized submission of this summary before the cabinet.
