Telecommunications have played a vital role in the development of modern societies. While reliability and high quality remains the touchstone of communication systems, Telephone Industries of Pakistan (TIP) has been catering to the needs of business as well as domestic users in the country for the last 56 years. The physical work has consisted of supplying state-of-the-art switching and terminal equipment for urban as well as rural telecom network and developing services, but the real job of TIP has been building relations between people.

TIP was established in 1952 with the collaboration of Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation and SIEMENS AG of Germany with an authorized capital of 1000 million. The foremost objective was to manufacture and supply telecom switching equipment so as to fulfill the country’s requirement. Initial capacity of the factory was manufacturing of 7,000 exchange lines and required number of telephone instruments. To cope with the growing demand, the production capacity was increased progressively to 40,000 subscriber lines and 70,000 telephone instruments by the end of 1968-69. During this period, production of other allied items of telecommunication like Private Automatic Branch Exchanges, transmission equipment and tele-printers etc were also undertaken in TIP.

In 1987 an agreement was signed with M/s Siemens to acquire latest technology of digital exchanges and latest models of telephones. Thus both the partners made additional investments in different phases, which raised the authorized capital of the company to about 1,000 million.

During the last 20 years TIP supplied, installed and commissioned about 3.5 million ports, which helped in achieving the objective of providing telephone facilities of latest technology throughout Pakistan. TIP also shared the task of replacing Electro-Mechanical Telephone Exchanges with Digital Exchanges which not only brought the digital technology in Pakistan but has saved substantial foreign exchange. For this project, TIP trained its engineers and technicians both at home and abroad.

Digital switching system is the latest advancement in telecommunication technology and has all the features required for IT and Data Communication such as:

• A complete range of telecom services from a single source.

• Advanced Subscriber Services (AD-SS).

• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).

• Internet Supplementary Services.

All the products are designed according to the CCITT standards and are also approved by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). TIP products manufactured by TIP meet the international standards specifications and have the possibility of its market in Central Asian Countries, Middle Eastern Countries and other developing countries in case its prices are competitive in the world market. Tariffs on raw materials/components and complicated import procedures make our products non-competitive in the international markets. In order to nurture our industrial growth, it is essential that the tariff barriers have to be eased off. Improvement in the production facilities of TIP is underway which would not only enhance their capabilities but also enable them in introducing new products in the existing range.