ISLAMABAD (Pakistan) – Michael Patrick Foley, Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Pakistan, has been appointed as new director of National Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) & Research and Development (R&D) Fund on Monday.
The Board of Directors of National ICT and RD unanimously appointed him as the new director in the 36th meeting of board held under the chair of Minister for Information Technology Anusha Rahman. The minister stated that government is keen on the development of ICT sector and as part of MoIT holistic strategy a national incubation center is needed for nurturing entrepreneurship in ICT. After the final draft of RFP is approved by the Board it will be published forthwith.
She further informed the Board regarding the announcement of special incentives by the federal government on setting up plants for “local manufacturing of mobile phone handsets” in the recent budget.
Michael Foley, a Canadian citizen, has more than 30 years of sales, marketing and operational experience in the Telecom and Retail sectors. He has worked with both advanced and growth markets in more than 11 countries.
Mr. Foley joined Telenor Pakistan last year in July when he replaced Mr. Lars Christian leul at a crucial moment in the history of Telenor Pakistan. Telenor was growing its market share and awarded with 3G license to further develop its Internet position in Pakistan.
Telenor Pakistan, launched in 2005, has since built a strong customer base of 35 million becoming second largest operator in the country. Recently, it partnered up with Facebook to launch internet.org for the first time in Pakistan.