Impact of economic improvement on the rural community of Pakistan: A study of the marketing effort of telecom operators and USF in rural areas

Abstract

This research project aims to put forward the efforts extended by Universal service Fund in Pakistan for facilitating the rural region with modern telecommunication services. The main objective of conducting research in this domain was to quantify the successful ventures in the rural region to highlight positive impact i.e. employment generation, source of income for the rural populace. Furthermore, this research report also endeavors to draw attention towards the dilemma which is the reluctance of the telecom operator’s in venturing into new rural regions in spite of funding backing accessible thorough Universal Service Fund. Although most of the rural regions are provided with cellular service but speaking in terms of broadband services provision, many regions are still awaiting for the initiation of these services. In an effort to attract the telecom operators to invest in these regions we administered questionnaires to the rural populace in Mansehra where with the efforts of USF and PTCL broadband services have been started. With the help of data gathered we have quantified the number of businesses started and the average income level generated as result of these efforts. In the end of the Research report we have tried to highlight the problems currently being faced by USF and the rural consumers. In light of the problems identified we have made recommendations to overcome the obstacles in way of gapping the digital divide.