Pakistan Telecom and IT updates

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has received Rs15.82 billion against second instalment of license renewal fee of telecom companies.

Two cellular mobile operators (CMOs), Telenor Pakistan and Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited, commonly known as Jazz, paid PTA Rs15.82 billion --equivalent of $103.17 million – against the second instalment of license renewal fee, according to a press statement issued by PTA.

Pakistan's telecom sector has been among those receiving highest foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the PTA annual report 2019-2020. It added that fiscal year 2020 turned out to be the best as far as FDI was concerned, since net FDI of over $622 million was brought into the telecom sector.

This huge investment became possible primarily because of the license renewal fees that mobile operators (Telenor, Zong and Jazz) paid to the regulator, as per the report. The telecom sector reported a share of 24% in the total FDI of Pakistan during FY20 as against negative share in FY19.

However, some in the telecom sector do not see these high fees productive in long run saying mobile services are becoming essential for almost every field, therefore, the government should decrease prices of licenses and taxes so that other digital services such as e-education, e-commerce, e-health should thrive. The officials are of the view that development of these services will earn PTA more revenue than at present.

The earned amount will be deposited in the Federal Consolidated Fund (FCF) as per practice under Pakistan Telecom Re-organization Act 1996, PTA said.

PTA has so far deposited Rs135.81 billion (equivalent of $862.22 million) with the government, received against 50% of total license renewal fee and first instalment of the same from three CMOs. With the amount of second instalment received from two CMOs now, the total receipts on this count have become Rs151.63 billion ($965.39 million).

The second license renewal fee instalment of CMPAK (Zong) for $54.086 million shall be due in October 2021.

The wireless and landline operators are investing in network expansion and quality of service improvement, in addition to non-developmental investments in the shape of license renewal, etc.

During the year 2020, the telecom sector invested over $733 million in Pakistan, of which the mobile industry’s share comes to 77%. License renewal fee by three CMOs contributed a major share to investments made by CMOs, according to PTA.

Commenting on the development, ICT expert Parvez Iftikhar said, “I am surely happy for my country receiving these amounts against license renewals. But it would benefit us much more if it meant release of more spectrum. Hoarding of spectrum raises its price, but lowers quality and speed of broadband, which hurts online learners, freelancers, knowledge workers, and generally all those who must work from home.”



Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2021.

 

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Korea loans $76.28 Million to build IT Park in Islamabad.

The government has received a loan of $76.28 million from the Republic of Korea for establishment of the Information Technology Park project in Islamabad.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has confirmed that the government of Pakistan has received a loan of $76.28 million from the Export-Import Bank of Korea from the resources of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) of the Republic of Korea toward the cost of the establishment of the IT Park Project, Islamabad, and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this loan to payments under the contract for the establishment of the IT Park Project.

The ministry has stated that the terms and conditions of the contract and payments by the bank, will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the loan agreement, including the guidelines for the procurement under the EDCF loan (the guidelines).

Except the bank may specially otherwise agree, no party other than the borrower will derive any rights from the loan agreement or have any claim to the loan proceeds.

 

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Government to set up IT park at Karachi airport

Of total project cost of Rs31b, South Korea will provide 85% of financing

Zafar Bhutta
June 05, 2021

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to set up an information technology (IT) park at the Jinnah International Airport in the trade and business hub of Karachi at a cost of Rs31 billion, say officials.

The government is focusing on increasing the growth of IT sector to enhance exports. It is contrary to the past practices when excessive reliance was placed on exports from traditional sectors like textile.

South Korean government has offered to finance the IT park project including the provision of technical expertise.

In addition to that, the government is also setting up IT parks in other cities, particularly Islamabad, in a bid to give a boost to the IT sector. IT is the only sector that offers huge opportunities of employment.

The setting up of IT parks will not only give a fresh impetus to the IT sector, but it will also provide job opportunities for the people.

South Korea is expected to provide 85% of funding for the project, which amounts to around Rs26.4 billion calculated at the rate of Rs170 to a dollar.

Seoul will also offer fellowship training for capacity-building of the IT park management.

Total cost of the project is estimated at Rs31 billion.

The government will arrange around Rs26 billion in foreign loans to complete the project. It will meet the remaining 15% of the cost from the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

The IT park will house about 210 IT companies having 8,400 employees. The project includes a multi-storey office building.

Sources told The Express Tribune that Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) would act as the project executing agency and would complete it in six years.

They said that the IT park would be spread over an area of 106,449 square metres with eight floors above the ground and three basement floors.

Korean consultants and the PSEB have conducted a feasibility study including a detailed survey for demand analysis of the IT park.

The report highlighted three broad factors behind the worldwide growth of IT parks.
First, technology has become very pertinent to economic development as it offers a powerful competitive advantage.

Second, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are playing an increasingly important role in technological advancement, innovation, employment generation and economic growth worldwide.

Third, increasing growth of advanced and knowledge-based SMEs offers a high growth potential in light of the feasibility study, project scope and major components.

Keeping these three broad prospects in view, the government has planned to set up the IT park in Karachi.

The IT park will provide space, facilities and services for IT firms. It will offer a platform to the industry and local universities to establish synergies.

It will also attract international business collaboration and global IT companies as anchor tenants and investors.

The IT park in Karachi will improve the provision of work space and allied infrastructure facilities for IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) companies and promote growth of the IT industry.

The project will also help to improve the formation of IT clusters, increase export revenues and showcase Pakistani innovations and services in the IT sector before the international audience and customers.

The IT park building will have offices, daycare centre, amenities, parking, etc.

It will have ICT system, security features and a data centre. There will be post-project operational support for the IT park management two years after its completion.

The IT park management is also included in the management information system. Two years of operational support of ICT infrastructure includes consultancy services for the design and construction of buildings with security facilities.

 

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WHY 5G IS STILL OUT OF PAKISTAN’S GRASP

Lack of 4G penetration and production of outdated cellphones are issues holding back a next-gen technology roll out

ARTICLE BY NABIL TAHIR
JUNE 05, 2021

KARACHI: In the 21st century, one needs to be in tune with the digital world. The online population is increasing exponentially day by day – reports estimate the number of Internet users in Pakistan reached 61.34 million in January 2021. To cater to a large digital population, all countries have been in a race to see which country will be first to come up with the best 5G network. This begs the question, where does Pakistan stand?

Communication service providers worldwide are battling one another to build out, validate and deploy commercial 5G networks. Given that Pakistan is a growing economy, more and more of its online population is also increasing in order to access the myriad benefits that it can provide.

5G technology is 100 times faster than 4G and will make life that much better for its users. Time is money, and of course, more time saved and more ease of use equates to more money being saved. As such, Pakistan must complete the transition from 4G to 5G as soon as is practically possible for the benefit of the Pakistani people as a whole.

But there are several reasons that Pakistan is nowhere near adopting 5G technology. Some of these reasons include the lack of good mobile phones, illegal signal boosters and old frequency bands.


Unplanned obsolescence

According to the telecom Indicators updated by the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) on March 2021, there are about 98 million 3G/4G subscribers that make 43.51 per cent penetration in the country. Broadband subscription in the country has hit 101 million, while the total number of cellular subscribers has reached 183 million. Unfortunately, however, the larger chunk of users is still on 2G.

According to figures, PMCL (Jazz) accounts for the highest number of registered cellular subscribers in Pakistan. On the question of 5G, the provider believes that the 4G network in the country must hit 60 per cent penetration for the next-gen technology rollout to become feasible. The ground reality is that the country is far from that level. Despite enhancements such as new 4G towers being added to the network, around 90 per cent of mobile sets that are being assembled or manufactured in the country are only compatible with 2G technology.

"We have to ensure the at least 60 per cent among all consumers are on 4G before going to 5G," Jazz CEO Aamir Ibrahim told The Express Tribune. "We need to accept that the lack of good mobile phone sets is one of the key barriers to the Internet growth in the country."

Talking about the need for a policy decision by telecom regulator PTA, he said, “I do not consider 3G broadband as it is an obsolete technology now. Although Pakistan has a mobile set manufacturing policy, the focus should not be on 2G-compatible sets but on the assembly of smartphones. Presently, approximately 53 per cent of all SIM subscribers use 2G sets.”

He further stressed that the PTA has to make mobile companies sell locally assembled sets at instalments. "A digital emergency needs to be declared and targets need to be set the to determine national goals in this regard," he said.

Talking about broadband companies, he pointed out that all of them are foreign investors, and the basic need of all investors, foreign or local, is predictability and equal treatment. “Continuing at this pace won't achieve the digitisation targets, we need to do something radically different. We have to create an environment conducive to investors and do heavy investment in it,” he said.

Cellular companies are often criticised for not providing quality Internet in certain areas. On this, Ibrahim said that there are certain areas where the authorities there do not allow the operators to establish a tower. "Our focus of growth is around 20 per cent in unserved areas but the cost of doing business in these remote parts is too high," he added.

Creative: Mohsin Alam



Illegal signals

Another reason for the slow pace of adopting technology in the country is the illegal use of services. Like any power utility that suffers losses due to power thefts, the same is case in cellular signals.

Many cellular and broadband users in Pakistan are experiencing a drop in their networks due to a growing trend of illegal installation of GSM signal boosters in residential and commercial areas. People use these boosters to increase mobile signal strength within buildings that have poor connectivity due to coverage gaps.

Since these devices amplify the signals between a mobile phone and the mobile operator's base stations, they cause problems because they broadcast continuous signals and jam legitimate users' phone signals. This is similar to having an illegal water connection from the main supply line, which causes a shortage for all other consumers.

These boosters are readily available wholesale, retail and in online marketplaces and have become a norm in many households. The rise in the installation of these boosters has led to a growing number of complaints by mobile phone users in various parts of Pakistan against network disappearance issues, which leads to call drops and low data speeds.

However, it seems to be the case that people are also not aware of the illegality of these boosters in Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act 1996 Section 31, Sub-section (2), “the unauthorised use of the radio frequency spectrum shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to (three) years, or with fine which may extend to Rs10 million, or with both.”

PTA has issued several notifications warning users of strict legal action if they are found using or selling these signal boosters. In December 2020, PTA also sent a letter to the FBR requesting them to stop importing these illegal boosters and amplifiers. However so far, no action has been taken in this regard, as these devices are readily available in urban markets and even on certain e-commerce websites.

The PTA spokesperson further said that the authority has been serving notices and taking actions against their installation and making efforts to curb the menace of signal boosters. “Much work is being done to end the issue of the illegal signal booster. The authority takes actions on the request of companies and customers. Based on customers' feedback we have successfully managed to increase signal strength in many areas,” he added.

In this regard, the cellular companies said they were working alongside PTA to ensure quick provision of quality services. The Chief Operating Officer of Telenor Pakistan, Khurram Ashfaque, said that Telenor ensures the devices installed at the customers' premises are approved as per PTA guidelines. “[However] Recently, we have observed some installation of unapproved, off-the-shelf and poor quality devices at certain locations,” he said.

“Boosters create unwanted signal interference and degrade the experience of mobile customers in their vicinity,” he said while requesting the PTA and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) to take steps to control the availability and use of such boosters to ensure uninterrupted signal quality to mobile customers.

Since the pandemic struck the world, almost all sectors moved their work online and what was key for this move to be successful, was good internet however, this was an issue for many. For instance, many health care workers in Pakistan have been consulting and teaching students online, and they many faced issues while trying to execute this. “I am a doctor, and since the pandemic, I have been forced to teach students online. Although I have to go to the hospital in case of emergencies, the OPDs are conducted online. For this, a good internet connection for video lectures is required,” said Sadia Manzoor, a practising doctor at Sir Syed University Hospital.

“There are times when the line internet connection is not working and we have to use 4G but even that sometimes does not work. The internet suddenly stops or the mobile cellular signals go off. The same happens at the time of conducting online classes. This causes a lot of interruptions while consulting and teaching,” she said, adding that she has complained to the cellular company and, upon their visit, got to know that there are some illegal signal boosters installed in the area that is causing the issue.


New connections, old frequencies

Another challenge is the frequency bands. A 4G LTE operates on established frequency bands below 6GHz, whereas for 5G frequencies go all the way up to 300GHz. But in Pakistan, the companies are adjusting the new connections on old frequencies.

An independent information and communications technology (ICT) analyst said that this is an ideal time for PTA and the FAB to float frequency spectrums for auction. "The Covid-19 pandemic, has increased broadband penetration in Pakistan but companies are still adjusting new connections at old frequencies," he added. He added that people use boosters to strengthen the signal strength, and this issue will be resolved to a great extent when a new spectrum becomes available.

Even though many users use fixed-line Internet, mobile-based Internet is the essential source of digitisation. It is the best tool to spread awareness and education, especially during the pandemic. Having access to Internet at your fingertips, not only open forums to gain knowledge but also to enhance your skills.

A Karachi-based gamer, Mohib Asad, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that many mobile-based games are getting popular in Pakistan but low configuration mobiles and slow internet connection is a huge hindrance in Pakistan. "We have some of the best gamers of the world in Pakistan but the unstable and slow Internet connectivity creates issues. If 5G is introduced in our country, it will create a level playing field for us and other gamers in developed nations," he said.

However, Pakistan is will be nowhere near introducing 5G technology unless the issues mentioned earlier are resolved. Currently, even 4G has not penetrated countrywide, there are still some areas that are yet to get 3G/4G service. The need for smooth and stable connectivity in the serving areas is also required as soon as possible. More importantly, the users who have not yet switched to smartphones will keep on using 2G-bassed phones until local manufacturing is not stopped.

 

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Journey of our closest friend....

 

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WHT rates reduced to 10percent: Industry status for telecom sector proposed


Tahir Amin
12 Jun 2021

ISLAMABAD: The government has proposed the industrial status for telecom sector, reduced withholding tax rates from 12.5 percent to 10 percent for tax year 2022, and eight percent for onward for telephone user on account of mobile telephone and prepaid internet or telephone cards, reduced rate of federal excise duty on telecommunication from 17 percent to 16 percent, and three percent reduced rate of withholding tax on telecommunication services in the Finance Bill 2021-22.

According to the salient features of budget 2021-22, Customs Act 1969 relief measures proposed the inclusion of telecommunication services in definition of industrial undertaking.

According to the notes on Clauses Customs Act, 1969 (Iv of 1969) seeks to include "Telecommunication Companies operating under the license of PTA" in definition of industrial undertaking.

It further seeks to reduce withholding tax rates from 12.5 percent to 10 percent for tax year 2022 and eight percent for onward for telephone user on account of mobile telephone and prepaid internet or telephone cards.

The bill proposed to provide exemption from the withholding tax provisions to payments received by the National Telecommunication Corporation for rendering services.

Further, the rate of federal excise duty on telecommunication is proposed to be reduced from 17 percent to 16 percent.

Further the reduced rate of withholding tax of three percent on oilfield services, warehousing services, logistic services, collateral management services and telecommunication services is proposed.

However, in order to reap reasonable revenue from this sector, federal excise on mobile phone calls exceeding three minutes @ Re1 per call, SMS message @ Re0.1 per SMS, and internet data usage @ Rs5 per GB is being proposed.

This will result into mild taxation of a broad spectrum of population.

Tax exemptions and concessions for Roshan digital accounts and implementation of electric vehicles and mobile phone policy implemented vide Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 dated 11.02.2021 made part of bill.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021

 

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Govt says no tax on data usage

June 12, 2021

ISLAMABAD: The budget for the upcoming fiscal year has proposed new duties on the internet and the telecom usage, not only inviting a backlash on social media but also creating confusion as the government denied the increase.

The finance bill has proposed that Re1 per call if the duration exceeds three minutes, Rs5 per GB for internet usage and 10 paisa on each SMS has been imposed, which will be in addition to the existing rates.

However, as the news reached the general public that taxes and duties have been enhanced on the consumers, users stormed social media with criticism of the government and many even tagged the prime minister at their tweets saying that the “Budget killed digital Pakistan initiative of the PM.”

After the strong criticism of the government for making internet usage, call and SMS costlier Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar denied that additional duties have been imposed on telecom and the data usage.

In his tweet the minister said, “The PM and Cabinet did not approve the FED levy on internet data usage. It will not be included in the final draft of the Finance Bill (budget) that is placed before parliament for approval.”

The information minister told Dawn that the increase mentioned in the budget document was an oversight, because the cabinet had not approved it. He made it clear that no tax has been imposed on data use.

However, many remained critical and concerned. In his tweet Amir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz, said that the additional levy on internet is detrimental to “Digital Pakistan” journey.

However, he praised Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin for reducing the FED, that has been reduced from 17 per cent to 16pc, which is the standard rate for all sectors.

Mr Tarin in his budget speech announced that the federal excise duty on the telecom sector has been rationalised.

Meanwhile, senior officials of telcos said that the telecom industry will give its reaction to budgetary measures on Saturday.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to adopt a social distancing attitude and most of the activities including buying groceries, education and even medical checkups were shifting to online mode — increasing internet rates will be damaging for whole society,” a senior executive of a telecom company said.

Similar views were expressed by a senior official of an internet service provider (ISP) who said that Pakistan was already on the 90th position in the world for internet inclusion and second lowest in Asia.

“Now if the government wants Pakistan to be at the last spot, increasing duties and taxes at internet and mobile calls was justified,” the official said, adding that Pakistani consumers were already paying exorbitant rates for data usage mainly because of high taxes and duties.

 

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National emergency helpline 911 likely to ring in on July 25
June 12, 2021

A rape incident had prompted Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch Pakistan’s first toll-free helpline number.


LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to inaugurate the country’s first national emergency helpline – 911-- on July 25.

It is said to be a tentative deadline to inaugurate the multi-billion scheme named Pakistan Emergency Help Line (PEHL), merging all the emergency service numbers into one. The Prime Minister Secretariat derived this concept from USA’s helpline 911 to give the proposed scheme ‘PEHL’ the national identity.

The work to establish the national helpline began after the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway rape case in which a woman had to go through a trying ordeal and failed to get through any helpline and seek help of government departments due to ‘jurisdiction dispute’. The woman was gang-raped in front of her children in September last year, prompting Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch Pakistan’s first toll-free helpline number that will be accessed by people of all the provinces to avoid any such incident in future.

During investigation into the gang-rape incident, it was realised that many helplines were functioning at a time but people were confused which one to go for in any particular area to seek emergency help from the department concerned. The National Highways and Motorway Police and the Lahore police also were at variance about the area of jurisdiction where the crime had been committed.

Prime minister is scheduled to open the initiative

“All modalities have been finalised in a series of meetings held with the provinces to establish the first national emergency helpline 911,” national focal person for the helpline Adil Safi told Dawn. Mr Safi, who is the deputy secretary at the Prime Minister House, said the last and important meeting with the provinces in this respect would be held next week to give nod to the PM’s scheme.

Before launching the country’s first helpline, experts studied models of the universal helplines of the UK, the USA and some other countries. He said initially the experts proposed ‘786’ as Pakistan’s national helpline number but later it was replaced by 911.

The national helpline number has been established under the Ministry of Interior with its head office in the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) in Islamabad. The helpline will be run by many operators who will work from the Central Control Room at the NCOC office.

The provinces have been directed to establish control rooms in their respective jurisdictions by making appointment of ‘huge brigade’ of trained and qualified operators and other staff.

Mr Safi said all the existing emergency numbers would be linked with the national helpline under the proposed scheme. The staff would receive all emergency calls at the central control room from where they would transfer them to the departments concerned for speedy action.

“Initially, the four kinds of acute emergencies would be dealt with on the national helpline which would be related to the police, fire brigade, ambulance service and the National Highways and Motorway Police,” said the focal person. “This helpline number can be dialed through mobile phones from any part of the country to avail oneself of various services even if the handler (caller) has no access to the network,” he said.

All the emergency calls would be attended ‘directly and live’ by the deputed staff who would transfer the same to the officials concerned for speedy action.

A unique feature has been incorporated in the new system under which a ‘red light’ would keep giving an alarm till the redress of the complaint and the caller’s satisfactory reaction is received against his plaint, he said.

Answering a question, he said the government had also sought support from the mobile phone companies to ensure the smooth implementation of the service besides taking the PTA and other departments on board.

A mobile app had also been made part of the facility to help the rescue centres and police trace the location of people in emergency and reach them promptly, Mr Safi said.


Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2021

 

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Ministry of IT launches 'Smart Village' project in all provinces

• Initiative aims to increase remote areas' access to a range of digital services in the domain of health, education, commerce, and livelihood

BR Web Desk
16 Jun 2021

The Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunications launched on Wednesday a 'Smart Village' project in four provinces including Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The project aims to increase remote areas' access to a range of digital services in the domain of health, education, commerce, and livelihood.

It will also focus on cross-sector collaboration and multi-stakeholder engagement to further improve cost-effectiveness and sharing of resources and expertise in delivering the services to citizens.

The project will be funded and technically supported by the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for all matters related to information and communication technologies, and Huawei Technologies Pakistan.

Initially, one Smart Village will be established each inIslamabad, Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

“Smart Village project is another step towards realizing Prime Minister’s vision of Digital Pakistan,” Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin Ul Haque said while speaking at the inauguration ceremony.

Talking about different projects done by the National Information Technology Board (NITB), the minister said that so far “more than 30 mobile applications, government web portals, and websites related to public services have been set up”.

He also said that his ministry will continue to undertake more challenging and productive programs in the future to support the promotion of IT and Telecommunication related services in Pakistan.

The minister congratulated the teams of USF, ITU, and Huawei in the implementation of the project.

 

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Pakistan Aims to Double IT Industry in Two Years With Tech Zones

New tech zones may double IT industry to $6 billion in 2 years

Pakistan has huge youth population, world’s No. 3 gig economy

Pakistan is looking to double its IT industry in two years by setting up dedicated tech zones across the country, after missing out on tech booms that helped nations like India and Philippines become back-end operators for the world.

The world’s fifth most populous nation expects to open a dozen such zones by next year, said Amer Hashmi, who heads the government body responsible for developing science and technology zones. It’s offering a 10-year waiver on corporate tax and imports of any equipment or building material needed for the areas, which will give Pakistan’s IT industry a “catapult push” that could double its size to as much as $6 billion in two years, he added.

Pakistan is banking on the new tech zones to create employment for its masses of young people -- nearly two-thirds of its population is below 30. It’s already home to the third-largest gig economy globally after India and Bangladesh, according to Online Labour Index by Oxford Internet Institute. A flood of overseas capital into startups from fintech to e-commerce that began during the coronavirus pandemic is also creating demand for dedicated zones to serve these industries.

 

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Pakistan Aims to Double IT Industry in Two Years With Tech Zones

New tech zones may double IT industry to $6 billion in 2 years

Pakistan has huge youth population, world’s No. 3 gig economy

Pakistan is looking to double its IT industry in two years by setting up dedicated tech zones across the country, after missing out on tech booms that helped nations like India and Philippines become back-end operators for the world.

The world’s fifth most populous nation expects to open a dozen such zones by next year, said Amer Hashmi, who heads the government body responsible for developing science and technology zones. It’s offering a 10-year waiver on corporate tax and imports of any equipment or building material needed for the areas, which will give Pakistan’s IT industry a “catapult push” that could double its size to as much as $6 billion in two years, he added.

Pakistan is banking on the new tech zones to create employment for its masses of young people -- nearly two-thirds of its population is below 30. It’s already home to the third-largest gig economy globally after India and Bangladesh, according to Online Labour Index by Oxford Internet Institute. A flood of overseas capital into startups from fintech to e-commerce that began during the coronavirus pandemic is also creating demand for dedicated zones to serve these industries.



View attachment 755802

I work in the IT industry here in the UK and I am looking forward to working with Pakistani's in Pakistan as part of projects that we outsource to the world.

I am forced to use a lot of Indian's - looking forward to being able to pitch "Pakistan" as an alternative.

I hope the goverment understands the need to improve the quality of STEM subjects and to ensure that Pakistani degrees match international standards for recognition.

It is people educated in STEM subjects that make the IT industry.

 

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ICT exports fetch $1.9bn in 11MFY21

The Newspaper's Staff
June 26, 2021

Salman Khan


KARACHI: Exports of telecommunications, computer and information services increased by almost 48 per cent to $1.908 billion during first 11 months of this fiscal year compared to $1.29bn in 11MFY20, State Bank’s latest data showed on Friday.

In May alone, export earnings from this relatively new sector stood at $200 million compared to $196m in April. It recorded a 66pc growth year-on-year from $118m in April 2020.
Commerce Adviser Razak Dawood said that the ICT and telecom exports now look set to breach the $2bn mark for the first time in history.

In the first quarter July-Sept of the current fiscal the exports from ICT and telecom were $445m which gradually increased each quarter. The export rose to $514m during Oct-Dec and $553m during Jan-March FY21.

While the commerce ministry assured its full support for the development and exports of ICT and telecom, the Covid also played a role for the growth. The communication gap due to pandemic crisis allowed the sector to fill the gap and maximise its business.

Though the size of imports of ICT and telecom was remained at lower side but still the growth during the 11 months was 45pc. The import of the sector during July-May FY21 was 493m against $340m in the same period of last fiscal year.


Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2021