ISLAMABAD ( ABRAR MUSTAFA )
Mrs Anusha Rehman Minister of State Moit said “We are working for the development of telecom sector on priority basis. The revenue of telecom sector will reach Rs 800 billion in next 5 years, whereas till year 2020 this revenue is expected to reach $4 billion. Government of Pakistan is also establishing tele centres in different areas of the country, especially in rural areas.
This year 2015 is also declared the year of IT. We are starting 9 IT projects of Rs 20 billion in Khyber Pakhtunkha and Balochistan.” Minister of State Information Technology & Telecom was addressing function arranged by PTA. 
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has conferred awards and cash prizes on the winners of “Pakistan Mobile App Awards 2015”.
State Minister for IT and Telecom Anusha Rahman distributed the awards to the winners of the competition.
PTA Chairman Dr Ismail Shah, PTA Member (Finance) PTA Tariq Sultan and Member (Compliance and Enforcement) Abdul Samad were also present. The event was attended by representatives from the government, telecom industry, academia, media and parents of the awardees.
The awards were given in two categories. In students’ category the 1st position was won by International Islamic University students Rabia Jabbar and Hamna Shaheen for developing the pre-school champs mobile application whereas the 2nd position was grabbed by Military College of Signals student Waqas Ajmal and his team for developing catch the bus mobile application.
In professional category, 1st position was won by Hassan Baig and his team for developing the Internet tutor app whereas 2nd award was given to Dr Hammad Cheema and his team for developing the OMNES app in the security domain.
The PTA also praised the efforts of two talented Pakistanis Iram Tariq Bhatti and Shahryar Khan for their achievements at the international level. They were also given awards.
Addressing the ceremony, Anusha Rahman said that the PTA has taken this initiative proactively which should be appreciated and followed by the whole telecom industry especially by the operators to take maximum advantage from the innovative development work of these young innovators.
Praising the winners, she assured them of the effective utilization of these applications by the related organisation. She said that the initiative would go a long way in developing a strong relationship between the academia, industry and the relevant government organisations and would turn out to be exemplary for the rest of the sectors of our economy.
She said, “We are working for the development of telecom sector on priority basis. The revenue of telecom sector will reach Rs 800 billion in next 5 years, whereas till year 2020 this revenue is expected to reach $4 billion. Government of Pakistan is also establishing tele centres in different areas of the country, especially in rural areas.
This year 2015 is also declared the year of IT. We are starting 9 IT projects of Rs 20 billion in Khyber Pakhtunkha and Balochistan.”
PTA Chairman Dr Ismail Shah said, “We at PTA believe in harmonized efforts for the uplift of ICT Industry of Pakistan as we look forward to carrying out significant projects in partnership with the operators and solution providers in the future as well. The Pakistan Mobile App Awards is to bridge the gap between industry, academia and the regulator.”
SUPARCO Chairman Major Gen (r) Ahmed Bilal and Rukhsana Zuberi also spoke.
100 applications were received which were later on scrutinised and evaluated by a committee of IT and software experts through a transparent procedure of marking.