HYDERABAD, May 17: The department of electronic and telecommunication engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, on Monday organized a seminar to mark the "World Telecommunication Day".

Speaking on the occasion, department of electronic and telecommunication engineering chairman Prof (Dr) B.S. Chaudhry said that the International Telecommunication Union with its headquarter in Geneva had declared May 17 as the "World Telecommunication Day".

He said that the ITU ever since its inception in 1865 had been striving to bring governments and industry closer and working to coordinate global telecommunication networks and services.

He said that it was pioneering a new communication path by laying foundations for a world information society. Speaking on the occasion, MUET vice-chancellor Dr A.Q.K Rajput said that teledensity in Sindh was a little higher than other provinces but it was quite low in rural areas.

Dr Rajput said that the private sector was coming up fast in this field after the deregulation process which may improve the overall telecommunication infrastructure in the country.

He pointed out that the Mehran university being the first public sector university which started offering degree in telecommunication engineering three years back, its vision was to become the premier telecommunication institute through quality education, commitment and desire to bring about positive technological innovations that would help to add value to an industry.

Aslam Pirzada demonstrated as to how 64 bit microprocessor technology had become cheap and revolutionizing information and communication technologies. Dr Amir Pathan emphasized that telecommunication was essential tool for access to information and knowledge.

He said that information and communication technologies offered possibility of delivering basic education and health services more efficiently to the people living in rural areas at their door step.

Prof (Dr) A.K. Baloch said that from the published data of PTCL, it was spearheading the growth of telecom sector through innovative and investment friendly policies of the ministry of information technology.

He said that through this 50 per cent rural coverage would be provided by Dec 2004. The seminar was largely attended by faculty members and postgraduate and undergraduate students.

SU: The University of Sindh announced on Monday the schedule of MA (previous) and MA final (pass) English 1st semester examination 2004 under the self-finance evening programme.