Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary

CEO of USF Pakistan

Compiled from 1 recorded interview. Every statement below is drawn from the passage cited beside it.

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary is the Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Service Fund Pakistan. He has been with the fund (USF) since late 2012, which is about a decade, and became acting CEO when the previous CEO's term ended.

Early life and background

Chaudhary was born in Lahore. His father was a government officer, and the family based itself in Islamabad. [1]

Education

Chaudhary attended the Margalla campus of a school for two years. He completed high school and studied FSC with maths, statistics and economics. He took admission at a college in Islamabad for the sake of its cricket team. [1]

He started a BBA in Business Administration at a university. He went to America and completed an MBA. He was drawn to finance, accounting, banking and economics. [1]

Banking career

Chaudhary did an internship at ABN AMRO Bank in 1997 and joined Citibank Islamabad as a trainee officer. His first job after the MBA was with Citibank New York, where he worked for almost two years. He has said he worked at the World Bank in its water and sanitation programme. [1]

Being the eldest in the family, with a sister married and a younger brother going to college, his father wanted him to come back, although he did not say so. He could not find a job for three months. He worked at Standard Chartered for three months before joining ABN AMRO, where he became a vice president at the age of 27. He was moved from Islamabad to Karachi to head a preferred banking unit, which he describes as wealth management. [1]

Dubai

Chaudhary has said Dubai was booming and growing at that time, and that the DIFC financial sector was being built. He worked at Credit Suisse and then at Barclays Capital, both in the DIFC in Dubai, for three years each. Barclays wound up its Middle East and Pakistan business and offered him London or Africa, which he declined. He gave himself three months in Dubai to find work and otherwise planned to return to Pakistan. He reached the final round with three major banks over three months, but none of those interviews led to a job. [1]

Universal Service Fund Pakistan

Chaudhary decided to stay in Pakistan for a while, partly because his parents lived by themselves. He first heard of a CFO position at the USF fund when someone told him about it, and he had not heard of the fund before. He has said he had assumed a CFO has accountants who do the bookkeeping while the CFO provides the vision, planning and budgeting. After a couple of months at the fund he came to see its work as providing connectivity to rural and remote areas. He has said USF is managed by the Ministry of IT and Telecom. [1]

Chaudhary applied for the full-time CEO role, and he believes the board and government liked him. He has said the government did not impose anything on him, and he was independent in running the organisation. He has said his vision was to make USF a leading public sector organisation. His changes at USF came slowly and met a lot of resistance. He has said he did away with offices in favour of open space. [1]

The fund's work

Chaudhary has said the fund was established in 2006, and that the ITU created the universal service fund model in 2002. He has said the fund exists to support areas where telecom operators find service commercially unviable. He has said the board has equal representation from the private and public sectors. [1]

Chaudhary has said that since 2019 the fund has deployed over 2,000 towers and contracted over 12,000 km of fiber. He has said the fund contracted 60 billion from 2006 to 2019 and over 75 billion since then. He has said the fund's contribution to Pakistan's overall 4G network is over 10%. He has said its contribution to 4G in Balochistan is roughly 40%. [1]

Chaudhary has said the fund launched a fiber-to-UC programme so that every UC has a fiber node. He has said the programme needs roughly 40,000 km of fiber. He has said each kilometre of fiber costs roughly 2.5 million rupees. He has said the full fiber-to-UC cost would be about 100 billion rupees. He has said the fund will need to raise further funding to continue the programme. [1]

Chaudhary has said the fund deploys solar as the primary power source for its towers. He has said energy is the largest running cost of each tower. He has said tower batteries last about 4 hours, after which power goes back to the generator or WAPDA. He has said the fiber nodes were not solar-based before and are now solar-based. He has said the fund focuses strongly on SDG 7, clean and green energy. [1]

Chaudhary has said law and order problems prevented deployment in the former FATA region. He has said the fund has recently launched in Swat, Kaghan, Kalam, Nathiagali, Buner and DI Khan. He has said insurgency in Swat has slowed deployment there. [1]

Views

Chaudhary has said technology is the way forward, and that giving technology to everyone is the most important thing for Pakistan. He has said COVID showed how much internet connectivity can do. He has said he feels strongly that connectivity has to have a use. [1]

On the telecom sector, Chaudhary has said mobile broadband has grown a great deal in Pakistan, and that no policy was designed to cover fixed broadband. He has said he does not think backbone is such a big challenge, and that demand is very low. He has said only about 10% of towers are connected to fiber, and mainly in metropolitan cities. [1]

Chaudhary has said that in Pakistan someone buys a SIM and, three days later, another network runs a campaign telling them to insert its SIM. He has said the industry has not matured in contracts. He has said the financial crunch in Pakistan has hit the telecom industry hard. [1]

On 5G, Chaudhary has said about half of the population has 4G, and the other half still does not. He has said the government and the private sector are in talks about 5G. He has said 5G could be allowed on a trial basis for the private sector, for use cases in big cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. [1]

Chaudhary has said the impression should be dispelled that public sector organisations cannot be robust, and that they can be efficient. He has said reform starts with the will to act and then needs the capacity to deliver. [1]

Chaudhary says he is very optimistic about Pakistan's future. He has said the country's biggest asset is its young people, and that Pakistan's average age is in the early twenties. He has said telecom is the mother of all sectors. [1]

Timeline

1997
Internship at ABN AMRO Bank[1]
2002
The ITU creates the universal service fund model, as he has said[1]
2006
The fund is established, as he has said[1]
2012
Joins USF, with which he has been since late 2012[1]
2019
From this year the fund has deployed over 2,000 towers and contracted over 12,000 km of fiber, as he has said[1]

Appearances

DateTitleWhere
2023-04-28 The man quietly connecting rural Pakistan to the internet Thought Behind Things

Frequently asked questions

Who is Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary is the Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Service Fund Pakistan. He has been with the fund since late 2012, which is about a decade. He became acting CEO when the previous CEO's term ended.[1]

What does Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary do?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary is the Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Service Fund Pakistan. He has said the fund is managed by the Ministry of IT and Telecom. He has also said it exists to support areas where telecom operators find service commercially unviable.[1]

Where is Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary from?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary was born in Lahore. His father was a government officer, and the family based itself in Islamabad.[1]

Where did Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary study?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary studied FSC with maths, statistics and economics. He started a BBA in Business Administration at a university and went to America, where he completed an MBA.[1]

Which banks has Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary worked for?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary joined Citibank Islamabad as a trainee officer and worked at Citibank New York for almost two years. He also worked at Standard Chartered and ABN AMRO, where he became a vice president at the age of 27. In Dubai he worked at Credit Suisse and then at Barclays Capital, three years each.[1]

How long has Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary been with the Universal Service Fund?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary has been with the Universal Service Fund (USF) since late 2012, which is about a decade. He became acting CEO when the previous CEO's term ended. He then applied for the full-time CEO role.[1]

What is the fiber-to-UC programme Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary has described?

Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary has said the fund launched a fiber-to-UC programme so that every UC has a fiber node. He has said the programme needs roughly 40,000 km of fiber, at roughly 2.5 million rupees per kilometre. He has said the full cost would be about 100 billion rupees.[1]

References

  1. The man quietly connecting rural Pakistan to the internet . Thought Behind Things , 2023-04-28.
Show the source passages (77 statements)
  1. Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary was born in Lahore. Um I was born in Lahore.
  2. His father was a government officer, and the family based itself in Islamabad. So my father was a government officer, so we based out of Islamabad.
  3. He attended the Margalla campus of a school for two years. Beaconhouse Margalla. Achha, main bhi Margalla campus ka hoon. Right. I was there for for uh two years.
  4. He completed high school. High school maine Bahria se kiya.
  5. He studied FSC with maths, statistics and economics. I was doing FSC, math, stats, economics.
  6. He took admission at a college in Islamabad for the sake of its cricket team. maine zabardasti admission liya Islamabad College for Boys mein cricket team ke peeche.
  7. He started a BBA in Business Administration at a university. so I got into Bahria University. Yahan pe. So yahan pe main aaya toh uh I started with BBA, Business Administration.
  8. He was drawn to finance, accounting, banking and economics. maybe yeh finance, accounting, banking mujhe attract kar rahi hai, economics.
  9. He did an internship at ABN AMRO Bank in 1997. phir '97 mein maine internship ki ABN AMRO Bank mein.
  10. He joined Citibank Islamabad as a trainee officer. I started with Citibank Islamabad uh as a trainee officer.
  11. He went to America and completed an MBA. So then you know I uh went to America, did my MBA there. Right. Kahan se? Uh New York Tech se.
  12. His first job after the MBA was with Citibank New York. So I got an opportunity to work with Citibank New York. That was my first job uh after finishing my MBA.
  13. He worked at Citibank New York for almost two years. I was there for almost two years.
  14. Being the eldest in the family, with a sister married and a younger brother going to college, his father wanted him to come back, although he did not say so. being the eldest uh in the family and you know my sister got married and my younger brother was going for college, so you know my father didn't say but he wanted me to come back.
  15. He could not find a job for three months. you'll be surprised if for three months I could not find a job.
  16. He worked at Standard Chartered for three months before joining ABN AMRO. I started working with Standard Chartered. Right. I was there for three months and then move got into ABN AMRO where I really wanted to work
  17. He became a vice president at ABN AMRO at the age of 27. where I really wanted to work and And that's where uh within a year then I I settled myself, I did what I had in my mind. And then I became VP at the age of 27.
  18. He was moved from Islamabad to Karachi to head a preferred banking unit, which he describes as wealth management. I was moved from Islamabad to Karachi as a head of Vango preferred banking which was the head of wealth management.
  19. He has said Dubai was booming and growing at that time, and that the DIFC financial sector was being built. So Dubai was obviously was booming at that time and growing and DIFC bana tha financial sector.
  20. He worked at Credit Suisse and then at Barclays Capital, both in the DIFC in Dubai, for three years each. So then I started working with Credit Suisse. Ek subsidiary hoti thi wahan pe DIFC mein. Worked there for three years and then with Barclays Capital for three years again. Both in Dubai? Both in Dubai. In DIFC.
  21. Barclays wound up its Middle East and Pakistan business and offered him London or Africa, which he declined. Barclays ne wrap up kiya uh Middle East se aur Pakistan se. So they gave me an option of moving to London or Africa. Which I thought ke no, it's not something I want to do.
  22. He gave himself three months in Dubai to find work and otherwise planned to return to Pakistan. And I gave myself three months, ke within three months main agar mil gaya toh theek hai, otherwise but I'm not moving out of Dubai. I'll go back to Pakistan.
  23. He reached the final round with three major banks over three months, but none of those interviews led to a job. teen mahino mein I had an opportunity to be interviewed by three major banks to the last uh level, lekin teen mahino mein it didn't work out.
  24. He decided to stay in Pakistan for a while, partly because his parents lived by themselves. I saw that my father was very happy to see my son, his own you know first grandson and my mother and living by themselves. So that motivated me ke yaar kuch arsa yahan pe rehte hain, dekhte hain.
  25. He first heard of a CFO position at the USF fund when someone told him about it, and he had not heard of the fund before. someone said ke yaar you are doing nothing. Ek uh position hai CFO ki, ek fund hai, uska maine suna bhi nahi tha, woh USF fund tha.
  26. He has been with USF since late 2012, which is about a decade. That was 2012 end. Last. Oh, so you've been with the fund for a decade? For a decade now, yeah.
  27. He has said he had assumed a CFO has accountants who do the bookkeeping while the CFO provides the vision, planning and budgeting. I thought ke CFO has accountants under them and they give their vision and you know planning and budgeting and everything and accountants toh usse bookkeeping kar rahe hote hain
  28. He has said USF is managed by the Ministry of IT and Telecom. And then this fund is managed by Ministry of IT and Telecom.
  29. After a couple of months at the fund he came to see its work as providing connectivity to rural and remote areas. Um then after a couple of months I realized ke you know what we are doing, matlab jo is kaam hai, basically providing connectivity to rural and remote areas, which is so important these days.
  30. He became acting CEO when the previous CEO's term ended. when I got an opportunity to became an acting CEO when our CEO ki term khatam hui
  31. He applied for the full-time CEO role, and he believes the board and government liked him. and then I applied for a full-time CEO role. I think uh board liked me, the government liked me
  32. He has said technology is the way forward. So why not pursue this as a career and technology is the way forward.
  33. He has said giving technology to everyone is the most important thing for Pakistan. Aur Pakistan ke liye sabse important hai ke hum log technology har kisi ko dein.
  34. He has said the fund was established in 2006. Okay. Uh this fund was established in 2006.
  35. He has said the ITU created the universal service fund model in 2002. it has been uh basically created by ITU, International Telecommunication Union in 2002 in across the world
  36. He has said the fund exists to support areas where telecom operators find service commercially unviable. iske peeche idea yahi tha ke wherever this commercially not viable by the uh telcos uh toh wahan pe yeh government support kare un areas ke liye.
  37. He has said the board has equal representation from the private and public sectors. What I mean is that ke we have equal representation uh from the private sector and the public sector in the board.
  38. He has said that since 2019 the fund has deployed over 2,000 towers and contracted over 12,000 km of fiber. 2019 se to date, we have deployed uh over 2,000 towers and we have contracted over 12,000 km of fiber, out of which approximately 6,000 is being laid on the ground.
  39. He has said the fund contracted 60 billion from 2006 to 2019 and over 75 billion since then. 60 billion was contracted from 2006 to 19 aur 19 se aaj tak it was over 75 billion.
  40. He has said COVID showed how much internet connectivity can do. So COVID has made us realized ke uh technology, internet can do wonders.
  41. He has said the fund's contribution to Pakistan's overall 4G network is over 10%. agar Pakistan ka overall uh 4G ka network hai, so USF ki contribution over 10% hai.
  42. He has said the fund's contribution to 4G in Balochistan is roughly 40%. Aur agar main Balochistan ki baat karun, toh Balochistan mein 4G ki contribution is roughly around 40%.
  43. He has said the fund launched a fiber-to-UC programme so that every UC has a fiber node. So we launched a program which is fiber to UC, so every UC will have a fiber node.
  44. He has said the programme needs roughly 40,000 km of fiber. so we need approximately roughly 40,000 kilometer of fiber.
  45. He has said each kilometre of fiber costs roughly 2.5 million rupees. so it's roughly around 2.5 million rupees per kilometer.
  46. He has said the full fiber-to-UC cost would be about 100 billion rupees. That translates to 100 billion rupees.
  47. He has said the fund will need to raise further funding to continue the programme. eventually we will have to raise funding if we have to continue with this with this program.
  48. He has said mobile broadband has grown a great deal in Pakistan, and that no policy was designed to cover fixed broadband. Yahan pe mobile broadband ki growth bahut hui hai. Was easy to do. And then you know koi as such policy design hi nahi ki gayi ke woh you know fixed broadband ke liye bhi ho.
  49. He has said he does not think backbone is such a big challenge, and that demand is very low. Ah backbone I don't think itna bada challenge hai, demand bhi bahut kam hai.
  50. He has said only about 10% of towers are connected to fiber, and mainly in metropolitan cities. hamare towers jo hain woh sirf 10% hain jo fiber se connected hain. Woh bhi sirf metropolitan cities mein hain.
  51. He has said that in Pakistan someone buys a SIM and, three days later, another network runs a campaign telling them to insert its SIM. Ah Pakistan mein toh yeh hai ke yaar aapne ek sim kharidi, teen din baad woh dusre network ne bola ke yaar sim lagao campaign
  52. He has said the industry has not matured in contracts. I think because ah hamari industry bhi us tarah in contracts perspective se mature nahi hui.
  53. He has said the financial crunch in Pakistan has hit the telecom industry hard. Very recently we've seen zahir hai ke financial crunch jo Pakistan mein aaya hai woh telecom industry ko bahut zyada massively impact kiya hai
  54. He has said the fund deploys solar as the primary power source for its towers. So we are deploying solar. Toh hamari primary source solar hoti hai.
  55. He has said energy is the largest running cost of each tower. jo bhi towers deploy hoga uski jo opex cost jo sabse zyada hoti hai woh energy ki hoti hai.
  56. He has said tower batteries last about 4 hours, after which power goes back to the generator or WAPDA. So battery ki time hota hai jo ke 4 ghante hota hai to woh serve kar leta hai. Uske baad woh back to generator ya WAPDA pe aa jata hai.
  57. He has said the fiber nodes were not solar-based before and are now solar-based. Pehle hum fiber ke jo nodes hain woh solar based nahi hote the. Ab humne unko bhi solar based kar diya hai.
  58. He has said he worked at the World Bank in its water and sanitation programme. And I worked at the World Bank toh uske andar I was in the water and sanitation program.
  59. He has said law and order problems prevented deployment in the former FATA region. woh unfortunately law and order situation ki wajah se jo hamara X FATA ka region hai woh nahi deploy ho paya.
  60. He has said the fund has recently launched in Swat, Kaghan, Kalam, Nathiagali, Buner and DI Khan. Uh phir recently hum logon ne Swat, Kaghan, Kalam, Nathiagali, Buner, DI Khan un sab mein launch kiye hain.
  61. He has said insurgency in Swat has slowed deployment there. Aur ab unfortunately due to insurgency in Swat and yeh to woh bhi slow hua hua hai.
  62. He has said he feels strongly that connectivity has to have a use. I strongly feel ke connectivity ka it has to be a use.
  63. He has said he did away with offices in favour of open space. maine offices khatam kar diye with open space.
  64. He has said his vision was to make USF a leading public sector organisation. Mera ek grand vision yeh tha ke USF ko ek leading public sector organization banaya jaye.
  65. He has said the government did not impose anything on him, and he was independent in running the organisation. they did not impose anything on me in terms of you know uh ke main I was independent in terms of making decisions in the administration of running the organization
  66. He has said the impression should be dispelled that public sector organisations cannot be robust, and that they can be efficient. Aur ek yeh jo impression hai yeh dispel kiya jaye ke public sector organization bhi robust ho sakti hain, they can be efficient also.
  67. He has said his changes at USF came slowly and met a lot of resistance. obviously I need to do bit of a changes and jab change karni hoti hai woh slowly and gradually. So I had a lot of resistance also.
  68. He has said reform starts with the will to act and then needs the capacity to deliver. You know first of all it has to start from the will. If you have a will to do things then I'm sure you know there will be challenges. And then you know you need to have that capacity to deliver that will.
  69. He has said the fund focuses strongly on SDG 7, clean and green energy. we take SDG 7 jo hai na clean and green uh energy wala we take it very seriously.
  70. He has said about half of the population has 4G, and the other half still does not. hamare 50% logon ke paas 4G abhi woh hai, 50% still hain.
  71. He has said the government and the private sector are in talks about 5G. So you know the government and and the private sector is in talks these days
  72. He has said 5G could be allowed on a trial basis for the private sector, for use cases in big cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. trial basis pe 5G allow kar diya jaye private sector ko for use cases in metropolitan like big cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
  73. He says he is very optimistic about Pakistan's future. You know I am very optimistic.
  74. He has said the country's biggest asset is its young people. Um so I think hamara jo sabse bara asset hai woh youth hai.
  75. He has said Pakistan's average age is in the early twenties. Hamari jo average age, jo population, young age hai woh early 20s ki hai.
  76. He has said telecom is the mother of all sectors. I strongly feel it's a mother of all sectors.
  77. Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary is the Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Service Fund Pakistan. Haaris Mehmood Chaudhary is the Chief Executive Officer of Universal Service Fund (USF) Pakistan.