China’s Sunwalk Group to inject $2bn investment into Pakistan’s optical fiber network, says Federal Minister Syed Amin

Sunwalk Group, a Chinese telecom infrastructure company, plans to invest $2 billion in Pakistan’s telecom sector for the deployment of an optical fiber network, encompassing an area of 100,000km.

“Sunwalk has obtained the license to be a telecom infrastructure provider (TIP) in Pakistan. The company will lay 100,000km of fibre cable in Pakistan with an investment of $2 billion,” said Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul Haque, during a meeting with a delegation led by the Chairman of Sunwalk Group, Hou Xingwang, on Tuesday.

During the meeting, there was a detailed discussion regarding investment opportunities and the telecom infrastructure sector in Pakistan, read a statement released by the Ministry of IT and Telecom.

It was learnt that Sunwalk has already invested about $5 million in installing Optical Fiber Cable (OFC) in Pakistan.

In the first phase, 5,000km of OFC is being laid to connect different cities of the country.

Chairman Hou said that the company enjoys long-standing relations with Pakistan and provides services to various sectors.

During the meeting, the Sunwalk delegation shared that there are difficulties in laying optical cables along railway lines, highways and motorways.

Amin-ul Haque briefed the delegation that consultation with the Ministry of Railways and Highways Authority is ongoing regarding the right of way to lay OFC. He assured the delegation that all obstacles in this regard will be removed soon.

The meeting was attended by Member Telecom Muhammad Omar Malik, DG Wireless Jahanzeb Rahim while the Sunwalk delegation comprises; Lou Vice President of Sunwalk Group, Tony Li (Assistant to Chairman), Chen Dianbo (COO of Sunwalk Pakistan) and Afshaan Malik (CBO of Sunwalk Pakistan).