Pakistan Telecom and IT updates

[ghazi52]

.,.,
The government is considering a proposal to remove the sales tax on laptops and Information Technology (IT) equipment in the Finance Bill 2022-23..

Among other proposals, the government is considering duties and tax exemption for the establishment of Cloud Infrastructure and rationalization of Advance Income Tax (AIT) on telecom services to 8 percent.

The IT and Telecom Division submitted the following proposals to facilitate the IT sector:

Duties and taxes exemption for the establishment of Cloud Infrastructure..
5 percent of annual IT export value to be given to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) for export promotion...
Removal of the telecom sector from the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) 7 April 2022 regulation of 100 percent LC margin...
Reduction of sales tax to zero on laptops and IT equipment..
Rationalization of Advance Income Tax (AIT) on telecom services to 8 percent...
Rationalization and harmonization of Federal and Provincial Services Tax rates on telecom services.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed Information Technology and Telecom Division to submit a plan to enhance IT and Telecom export to $ 15 billion in the next two years after the due consultation process with the stakeholders..

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,
The groundbreaking ceremony for the Karachi IT Park is likely to be held on 9 June, with the laying of its foundation by the Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) stated that the arrangements for the groundbreaking ceremony of the IT Park at Jinnah International Airport are underway.

Officials from South Korea, the government of Sindh, the MoITT, and key stakeholders from the private sector will participate in the ceremony.

According to sources, the groundbreaking ceremony will be followed by soil testing and the building of a boundary wall. Furthermore, the MoITT has started the hiring process for expressions of interest (EoIs) for the initial design of the park.

The federal government had decided to establish the IT park at Jinnah International Airport, which is located in the metropolis’s trade and business hub. The total cost of the project is Rs. 31 billion, and the government of South Korea has offered to finance it. It is expected to provide 85 percent of the funding besides technical support, according to the MoITT.

The IT park will house about 210 IT companies with almost 8,400 employees, and a multi-story building. It will cover an area of 106,449 sq. m, with eight floors above ground and three basement floors. The building will also have offices, conference rooms, a day-care center, amenities, and a parking space

 

[ghazi52]

,.,.
The export earnings from telecommunication, computer and information services grew 29.29 per cent to $2.19bn during July-April 2021-22 against $1.7bn in the same period last year.

Despite improved performance by the IT and telecom sector in the outgoing fiscal year, the sector is less likely to achieve its export target of $3.5bn by the end of June. However, the Economic Survey 2021-22 released on Thursday highlighted that the Ministry of IT and Telecom and all its subordinate departments showed improvements in their performance, and the sector was a significant source of revenue generation for the national exchequer.

From July 2021 to March, the telecom sector contributed around Rs163.3bn to the national exchequer in terms of taxes, regulatory fees, initial and annual license fees, activation tax, and other taxes.

During this period the Personal Data Protection Bill has been approved, to counter rising cyber crimes.

The foreign and local investments in the telecom sector in July-February 2021-22 crossed $930.1m, and the total number of mobile and fixed-line subscriptions reached 194.2 million, with a net addition of 6.7m subscribers compared to the same period of last year

 

[ghazi52]

...,

Number of 3G, 4G users up by 1.14m in one month: PTA​

Tahir Amin
19 Jun, 2022

ISLAMABAD: The number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan increased by 1.14 million from 112.75 million by end April 2022 to 113.89 million by end-May 2022, says the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The number of cellular subscribers in Pakistan increased by 0.25 million to 193 million by end-May 2022 compared to 192.75 million by end-April 2022.

Teledensity for cellular mobile increased from 87.6 percent by end April to 87.67 percent by end May. The total teledensity increased from 88.74 percent by end April to 88.81 percent by end May.

The Monthly Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) penetration increased from 51.24 percent by end-April 2022 to 51.73 percent.

Jazz’s total count for 3G users declined from 6.222 million by end April to 6.068 million by end May, registering a decrease of 0.154 million. Jazz 4G user numbers jumped from 36.567 million by end April to 37.168 million by end May.

Zong 3G subscribers decreased from 3.357 million by end April to 3.272 million by end May, while the number of 4G users increased from 27.952 million by end April to 28.317 million by end May.

Telenor 3G subscribers decreased from 3.696 million by end April to 3.613 million by end May, while the number of 4G users of Telenor increased from 21.216 million by end April to 21.494 million by end May.

Ufone 3G users stood at 3.576 million by end May compared to 3.673 million by end April. The number of 4G users of Ufone increased from 8.761 million by end April to 9.052 million by end May, registering 0.291 million increase during the period under review.

PTA received 16,872 complaints from telecom consumers against different telecom operators, including (cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs) as of May 2022. The PTA said that it was able to get 16,659 complaints resolved, i.e. 98 percent.

According to the PTA data, 5,649 complaints were received against Jazz, 5,417 against Telenor, 3,528 against Zong and 1,478 complaints were received against Ufone. The PTA also received 239 complaints against basic telephony, where 227 were addressed during May 2022. Furthermore, 532 complaints were received against ISPs, where 520 were addressed.

Cellular mobile subscribers constitute a major part of the overall telecom subscriber base. Therefore, the maximum number of complaints belongs to this segment. The total number of complaints against CMOs by May stood at 16,087 where 15,904 were addressed i.e. 98 percent.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

 

[ghazi52]

,..,.,

PTCL, Huawei Successfully Deploy AirPON Solution​

By Press Release
Jun 22, 2022


PTCL, the country’s premier Telecom and ICT services provider, has successfully deployed AirPON solution from Huawei Technologies in its Fiber Access Network.

AirPON is a unique and innovative Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) solution that leverages existing cellular mobile network infrastructure to extend fiber footprint with an improved total cost of ownership and better time to market.

AirPON employs purpose-built pre-connectorized Optical Distribution Network (ODN) components, which offers a unique, efficient, and agile deployment, that minimizes fieldwork through a plug-n-play approach, while also greatly improving the quality of installation.

The infrastructure available at cellular mobile sites is exploited for field deployment of Optical Line Terminal (OLT) equipment to serve its housing, power, and transport needs.

This solution is yet another step forward on PTCL’s roadmap for meeting rapidly growing consumer data traffic demands by expanding its Fiber Access Network in areas otherwise difficult to reach for deployment.

Jafar Khalid, Group Chief Technology Officer, PTCL Group, said, “We are committed to uplifting our customer experience through the adoption of state-of-the-art products & solutions. PTCL and Huawei achieved another milestone by successfully introducing the AirPON solution in our Network.”

He added, “We continue to invest in new technologies and products to modernize our network, with a major emphasis on expediting the reach of the high-speed fiber access network to maximum customers, and the AirPON solution will be a key enabler in meeting this ambition.”

Ahmed Bilal Masud, Huawei Pakistan Deputy CEO, stated, “Huawei is always committed to working closely with PTCL Group to explore the right solutions for meeting the evolving business requirements.”

He added, “Our goal is to offer innovative solutions to PTCL Group, while committing to minimize the deployment cost and time to market, with network simplification and emerging technologies. We believe that AirPON will pave the way for increasing fiber reach in the country, and support PTCL to offer fast internet services to its valuable customers.”

 

[ghazi52]

,.,.,

Sindh cabinet approves first ever Cloud policy​

The Frontier Post

KARACHI: We have achieved a great milestone with approval of first ever cloud policy in Sindh. It was stated by Mrs. Tanzila um e Habibah Special Assistant to CM Sindh for Information science and Technology Department, Sindh. The cabinet meeting was provided overfed by CM Sindh sayed Murad Ali Shah. The IT department told the cabinet that the absence of Cloud policy compelled public sector organizations to work in silo and caused inefficient use of resources utilisation, security issues, increased capital costs and infrastructure degradation issues.

The salient features of the Cloud First Approach include economic scale, collaboration among federation and provinces, standardization, and adoption of emerging tools and technologies.

The provincial government, under the new policy, would appoint a Cloud Acquisition Office (CAO) would be established to support the public sector entity in their transition to cloud. The Cloud policy is a paradigm shift from Capital Expenditure to Operational Expenditure resulting in cost savings with better infrastructure.

The Provincial Cloud Acquisition Office would work with other departments and SPPRA to bring the required changes (PAYG “Pay as you go” or “pay as use”) with reference to the policy. Provincial Cloud Acquisition Office must be involved in procurement decisions of ICT related infrastructure.

The cabinet approved the policy. Digital Technology Board: The provincial cabinet also approved establishment of Sindh Digital Technology Board for promotion, planning, execution, supervision, evaluation and regulations of Digital technologies to boost the `digital economy by enabling e-government, promoting innovation, capacity building, supporting IT Sector and collaborating with stakeholders at province, federal and international level.

The chairman of the board would be Minister IT, Secretary IT would be its vice chairman and secretary Finance, Secretary P&D and MD of the board would be its members. The functions of the board, include digital Technology policy guidelines to the government; recommend Information, prepare a comprehensive program for the Information for the approval of the government, Digital Technology sector; plan, manage, implement and control the digital Technology sector programs and schemes and submits reports to the government to observe growth and enrichment of the approved Information, digital Technology program.

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,.,.
IT exports have surged at the growth rate of 25.45 percent in eleven months of the last financial year. “ICT export remittances, including telecommunication, computer, and information services for the period July 2021 to May 2022 during Financial Year 2021-22 have surged to the $2.381 billion at a growth rate of 25.45 % in comparison to the $1.898 billion during the same period in FY 2020-21,” the official of the ministry told APP.

The net exports for the period July 2021 to May 2022 during FY 2021-22 were $1.809 billion which was 75.98% of $2.381 billion in ICT exports. Last year, for the same period the net exports were $1.425 billion which was 75.08% of $1.898 billion in ICT exports, he added.

On the direction of the Prime Minister, he said, steps were being taken to take ICT exports to record levels, with the implementation of the tax relief announced by the finance minister in the federal budget for the IT industry.

 

[Luosifen]

Huawei, Meezan Bank sign MoU on Cloud Transformation

Meezan Bank and Huawei Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cement their strategic

gwadarpro.pk

Huawei, Meezan Bank sign MoU on Cloud Transformation​

By Staff Reporter | Pakistan Observer Jul 22, 2022



Meezan Bank and Huawei Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cement their strategic partnership, through projects focused on Cloud Transformation and technological innovation, enabling Meezan Bank to augment its existing processes and systems.
Group Head Information Technology, Faiz Ur Rehman, Group Head Digital Transformation and Innovation, Iqbal Ali Khan were present at the signing along with representatives from Huawei’s side as well. According to the signing, Huawei and its partners will seek to aid the bank in hybrid cloud transformation and enhance the technology adoption.
Banks have the ability to capture and store enormous tranches of customer data on a daily basis. The problem is, that with legacy methods such as data storage siloes, banks are severely limited in how they use and connect this data, if at all.
Cloud technology can centralize the data capture, storage, and interpretation processes. It can also reduce the costs associated with these critical processes and generate far richer, more precise, faster data-led insights, which banks can use to drive performance.
The advancement to Cloud Transformation in banking is something that’s happening all around the world and in Pakistan as well. Pakistan’s Central Bank, State Bank of Pakistan is also actively reviewing the present regulatory framework to allow banks to adopt innovative Cloud technologies.

 

[ghazi52]

,.,.,

Govt approves spectrum auction​

Every 5 MHz sale may fetch around $96m; licence will be for a period of 10 years

Shahbaz Rana
August 04, 2022

Telecom industry is demanding that 100% cash margin requirement against import of almost all telecom and IT equipment needs to be removed.

---

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday approved the auction of new spectrum in the 2,100 megahertz (MHz) band for a period of 10 years that may fetch around $96 million for every 5 MHz sale, changing the terms of sale that may anger three telecom giants.

The Spectrum Auction Advisory Committee unanimously decided to go for the auction of 2,100 MHz band in 5 MHz bandwidth for 10 years using the current consultant’s report at net present value, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance.

The previous government had auctioned the 5 Mhz band at a price of $29 million per MHz for a period of 15 years. The three telecom players had also got their licences renewed at this price for 15 years.

The spectrum auction committee only offered 2,100 MHz for a period of 10 years, which would clearly give undue advantage to one player, according to an official working for a telecom operator.

“It is discriminatory and the telecom operators may protest against the move,” he added.

However, the chairman of the Auction Advisory Committee, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, has a different view.

The federal government had offered the 1,800 and 2,100 MHz bands but no telecom operator bought the 2,100 band, “which left us with no option but to change the terms”, said the finance minister.

He added that the government had a choice either to reduce the price or the term of the licence and “we opted for the reduced term of 10 years”.

The minister said that at least two to three 5 MHz spectrums would be offered to the industry.

The government expects to receive $96 million to $192 million in revenue from the sale proceeds of the two spectrums.

The finance minister said that the government was aiming to improve mobile broadband services in Pakistan as the sector contributed heavily to the development of the country.

Telenor Pakistan had sought 5 MHz spectrum for seven years in the 2,100 band.

The finance ministry stated that the advisory committee was briefed about the demand and supply and recommendations of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for the release of available spectrum for the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) in Pakistan.

It was also shared that 4G penetration was increasing in the country, which was good for the development of IT-related infrastructure.

The telecom industry has expressed reservations about charging in dollars for the licence and spectrum fee, when they are raising revenues in rupees.

The industry is passing through difficult times and is now looking for ways to increase prices of their packages and services amid a decline in rupee value that has increased the cost for them.

The telecom sector would shift from a net profit of $188 million in 2021 to a deficit of $287 million by the end of calendar years 2022 and 2023 because of the worsening economy, according to a briefing given by one of the industry players to the media last week.

The telecom industry claims that it has been passing through grave challenges and now it is a matter of its survival. The regulator is not allowing the telecom sector to increase its rates.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) has declined significantly and Pakistan has the lowest level.

In such a scenario, the telecom sector is heading towards a situation where some of the foreign telecom sector investors are looking for options to exit Pakistan.

The industry is demanding that the 100% cash margin requirement against import of almost all telecom and IT equipment needs to be removed. It also says that the requirement of prior approval by the SBP for opening Letters of Credit for all technical equipment and machinery import also needs to be removed.

Every government has heavily taxed the telecom sector that is also affecting its business.

The government has also raised the regulatory duty on optic fibre cable import from 10% to 20% in the Finance Bill 2022.

The industry players say that despite a positive headway in the past few years, Pakistan lags in the four technology enablers – broadband, IoT, Cloud and AI 4G. The subscriber base stagnation will halt the recent information technology boom.

The existing policy framework in Pakistan discourages international investors from investing in entities solely registered in Pakistan. Private fund regulations hinder local investors to licence fund vehicles, according to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4th, 2022.

 

[ghazi52]

.,,.

ICT exports: still strong?​

BR

The country’s exports of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services continued the strong double-digit growth run in FY22, as per the latest data from the central bank. Standing at $2.6 billion, the ICT services exports showed a year-on-year growth of 24 percent last fiscal, and in the process provided an additional half a billion dollars to the country’s forex reserves relative to FY21.

The oft-repeated government target of $3 billion in exports was not met in FY22, however. For the ICT services exports fell well short of 46 percent annual growth seen during FY21. This was despite late-Covid surge in business investments and consumer spending in the North American, European and GCC markets, from where most of Pakistani IT exporters earn their digital revenues from. Still, the 24 percent annual growth rate, on top of a large base, was the second-highest growth rate over past many years.

In the bigger picture, ICT services exports’ growth outpaced annual growth in overall services exports of the country during FY22. The ICT services exports were equal to 7 percent of Pakistan’s overall goods and services exports of $39 billion in FY22 – maintaining the level achieved during FY21 despite strong growth run in the country’s overall export tally last fiscal.

Within the relevant pie of $2.6 billion during FY22, the major chunk belonged to ‘computer services,’ which are the core IT services that provide over four-fifth of the ICT services export receipts. These services grew by 26 percent year-on-year to reach $2.1 billion in FY22, providing 87 percent contribution to the $500 million+ incremental growth in overall ICT services exports during the fiscal.

Within the core IT sector exports, the bulk of incremental exports were on account of 43 percent annual growth in ‘software consultancy services,’ whose receipts rose to $795 million. This segment was followed by 35 percent yearly growth in ‘export of computer software,’ which reached $563 million. Meanwhile, ‘other computer services’ returned 7 percent growth over FY21 to provide earnings of $743 million.

In the ‘telecommunication services’ sector, which provided 19 percent of overall ICT services exports in FY22, the annual growth was also in healthy double-digits (15%), reaching $504 million for the fiscal. Within this sector, 39 percent annual growth was witnessed in ‘call center’ exports, which stood at $216 million in FY22. Meanwhile, the core telecoms services (including long-distance and international (LDI) telephony revenues of local operators) barely grew at 2 percent per annum, with receipts of $289 million.

In the ongoing fiscal, IT exporters are set to face an uncertain external outlook. On the negative side, the inflation-taming central bank measures have started to take their toll in aggregate demand in overseas markets. This may have the effect of leading to a slowdown in IT-related spending in advanced markets, thereby potentially impacting Pakistan’s IT exports as well. Not all markets may be affected the same way, however.

On the positive side, IT exporters are sitting on excess cash/capital, which they could use to make strategic and tactical acquisitions in local and foreign markets to grow their business amid attractive valuations. Some of the leading players have already been doing that, with the intent to create capacity to service large-sized foreign clients and to diversify expertise, service portfolios and geographical markets.

While the impact of such moves will play out in medium to long run, it remains to be seen in the short term if the $3 billion export barrier can be broken in FY23. On paper, it looks like a certainty –only 15 percent growth is required over FY22 to cross the mark. Besides, attractive PKR-dollar conversion may incentivize IT exporters to remit more of export earnings to offices here at home. In reality, however, it may play out better or worse, in line with how Pakistan’s macroeconomic scorecard behaves and how it impacts the viability of businesses operating here. Let’s see what FY23 has in store!

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,

China assists Pakistan in advancing its geomatics technologies​

August 16, 2022


To develop the geomatics knowledge of Pakistani scientists and officers, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce sponsored an advanced seminar online titled “Geomatics Technology for Pakistan.

This conference was attended by 19 Pakistani professionals and officers from organisations like the Society of Engineers, National Institute of Computer Sciences, University of AJ & K Muzaffarabad, etc. Hunan International Business Vocational College, the seminar’s organiser, claims that the seminar is specifically created to address the needs of Pakistani geo-technical professionals based on a series of research and inquiry on the growth of surveying and mapping technology in Pakistan.

BEIJING, Aug 15 (APP): An advanced seminar entitled ‘Geomatics Technology for Pakistan’ sponsored by the Ministry of Commerce of China is ongoing online to help improve Pakistani scientists and officers’ expertise in geomatics.

A total of 19 Pakistani experts and officers from the Society of Engineering, National Institute of Computer Sciences, University of AJ & K Muzaffarabad, etc. attended this seminar.

According to seminar’s organizer Hunan International Business Vocational College, the seminar is specifically designed to meet the actual needs of Pakistani geo-technical experts based on a series of investigation and research on the development of surveying and mapping technology in Pakistan.

During the 20-day seminar, Chinese experts have been sharing the latest geomatics technology of data analysis, processing and application, and the successful experience and practice in the surveying and mapping industry in China with the Pakistani participants.

The seminar is composed of classroom teaching, discussion on specific topics and visits to renowned Chinese enterprises, etc. Notably, cutting-edge equipment including VR drones has also been used for practice.

“Through this seminar, Pakistani experts can learn about the updated development of geomatics technology in China, and the Sino-Pak cooperation potential in the field of surveying and geographic informatics has been fully discussed,”Zhong Huiqun from Hunan International Business Vocational College told CEN.

It’s learned that in recent years seminars on various subjects including automotive industry, engineering and business management have been organized by Hunan International Business Vocational College under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Commerce of China to help drive Pakistan’s industrial upgrading and enhance technical exchange between the two countries.

 

[ghazi52]

1.21m handsets imported: 15.61m cell phones manufactured locally in eight months: PTA​

Tahir Amin

ISLAMABAD: The local manufacturing plants have manufactured/ assembled 15.61 million phone handsets during the first eight months (January-August) of 2022 compared to 1.21 million imported commercially, says Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The local manufacturing plants manufactured/ assembled 0.67 million mobile phones in August 2022.
The manufactured/assembled mobile phones handsets by local manufacturing plants during the calendar year 2021 stood at 24.66 million compared to 13.05 million in 2020, i.e. an increase of 88 percent.

The commercial imports of mobile phones handsets stood at 10.26 million in 2021 compared to 24.51 million in 2020, revealed the official data of the PTA.

The locally-manufactured/assembled 15.61 million mobile phones handsets include 8.85 million 2G and 6.76 million smartphones. Further as per the PTA data, 54 percent mobile devices are smartphones and 46 percent 2G on Pakistan network.

However, despite the increase in the local production of mobile phones, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $101.864 million during the first two months (July-August) of the current fiscal year 2022-23.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data shows that on a month-on-month (MoM) basis mobile phone imports registered 62.51 percent growth and stood at $63.060 million in August 2022 when compared to $38.804 million in July 2022.

The successful implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) along with conducive government policies including the mobile manufacturing policy has created a favourable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.

It has also contributed positively to the mobile ecosystem of Pakistan by eliminating the counterfeit device market providing a level-playing field for commercial entities and has created trust among consu
mers due to the formulation of standardised legal channels for all sorts of device imports.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,.

Huawei launches All Scenario All Flash storage solution​

The Frontier Post

SLAMABAD (INP): Huawei Pakistan successfully held the Huawei IT Summit Pakistan 2022 and launched All Scenario All Flash storage solution in Islamabad.

Federal Secretary IT and Telecommunication Mr. Mohsin Mushtaq, HEC Mr.Faisal Rafique, New Horizon Mr. Qaiser Sarwar, Nayatel Mr. Jahanzeb Arshad, Future Wei Mr. Wang Yong, Wateen Mr. Aftab Siddiqui, TechAccess Mr. Kashif Ali along with other officials and experts from IT industrials and Huawei were all president at the Summit.

In the summit key speakers and experts highlighted how data has become the catalyst for the digital economy. Such explosive data growth, however, places added pressure on traditional data centers, which provide the centralized storage, computing and data resource exchange needed for enterprise to tap into the value of data.

Huawei launched All scenario Flash storage to combat the challenges of todays’ world to facilitate business growth and digital transformation across industries.
As the Chief Guest, the Federal Secretary Mr. Mohsin Mushtaq appreciated Huawei effort to organize Summit and said “Huawei has worked closely with the Ministry of IT and Telecommunications on various projects and has always been extremely supportive.”

Talking about the cooperation with Huawei in Pakistan, operation VP Nayatel Mr. Jahanzeb Arshad saying”We wanted to work with global providers and provide the same level of service but more cost effective to our customers. Critical components of our services is Storage, certain customers require high IO performance from storage, and Huawei help us with the storage required for us to set up our open-stack Cloud. It was a very smooth and stable integration with Huawei Dorado Storage.”

COO of New Horizon Mr. Qaiser Sarwar also shared experience with Huawei “We have evolved as more of a ‘Storage Expert’. Our journey with Huawei started three and half years ago and we evaluated the storage at that time and realized that it has the potential compared to other storages in the market. The supply chain is so efficiently managed, and the stable capability of manufacturing even after Covid times give us and Huawei an edge in the market.”

HEC IT Director Mr. Faisal Rafique stated in the Summit “Our vision is to enhance the productivity in the education sector and focus on World class learning research and development centers. Our journey with Huawei started in 2007 with 30 HEIs and now we’re with 210 HEIs in 2022. I would like to appreciate Huawei for a project completed phase 2 in a much quicker way, he added.

 

[ghazi52]

,..,

Pakistan flaunts IT potential​

Aims to host technology exhibition ‘Techspring’ in March 2023

Usman Hanif
October 14, 2022

KARACHI: Pakistan is fast emerging as one of the IT hubs in the world on account of its human resource potential.

“Pakistan is considered as the emerging hub of the IT industry across the world with its increasing contribution to the global banking system through innovative services and out-of-the-box solutions,” said NdcTech Limited CEO and President, Ammara Masood while addressing an audience at the Bank of the Future Forum 2022.

She added that the global fintech services provider, Temenos, has designated Pakistan as the regional hub for targeting the penetration of its services in different countries including banks and the financial sector.

MD Systems Limited CEO, Asif Peer affirmed that “Pakistan’s IT industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years”.

Talking to the media, Peer noted that “Pakistan can’t survive by relying only on manufacturing-led exports. The country needs services-led exports which can be done through IT and IT-enabled services. This is the only viable method to enhance the country’s exports.”

According to 2021 Kearney’s Global Services Location Index, Pakistan is ranked as the second-most financially attractive location in the world for offshore outsourcing services, and the second-largest supplier of online labour in software development and technology as per the ILO Flagship Report 2021.

“The government and IT companies are working aggressively to promote IT exports at the international level. This can be seen most recently from the mega pavilion of Pakistan set up at the Gulf Technology Exhibition (GITEX) Global in Dubai,” he said.

Pakistan Software House Association (P@SHA) Chairman, Zohaib Khan apprised that “Pakistani IT companies have displayed diverse capabilities to industry players of the IT industry at GITEX 2022.”

“These services include, but are not limited to, IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS), internationally-acclaimed accomplishments and potential, human resource strengths and skill-sets, untapped export potential, business process outsourcing (BPO) capabilities, internationally-accredited tech infrastructure, services in artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technologies, fintech ecosystem, web 3.0 and metaverse and software and application development competencies,” he explained.

Khan inaugurated the Pakistani Pavilion in GITEX 2022 in Dubai along with Pakistan’s Federal Minister for IT and Telecom, Syed Aminul Haque.

The P@SHA chairman expressed profound optimism saying, “Tangible gains have been accomplished during the exhibition – be that export orders, investment propositions, skill development collaborations, single-country follow-up meetings, B2B alliance or ground-breaking discussions on joint ventures.”

It is pertinent to note that GITEX is the biggest show and event in the entire Middle East and GCC region for IT, ITeS and other allied technologies. This year, 29 member companies of P@SHA are participating in GITEX in collaboration with the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). The ITT-minister has set forth an ambitious target of $5 billion in IT exports for the FY 2023 and $15 billion in the next five years.

“P@SHA is all geared-up to turn this dream into a reality,” commented Khan.

Pakistan has already posted an export growth of 150% in IT exports during FY2019 – FY2022. No other industry in Pakistan has achieved so much growth in export numbers over the last few years in comparison.

Khan maintained that “Internationally, venture capital markets have been shrinking for the past couple of years. However, despite that trend, Pakistani IT companies have received considerably enhanced funding. Therefore, it would be counterintuitive and counterproductive to not capitalise on the enormous potential of the IT industry of Pakistan – which may result in half-a-million new jobs for the youth in a short-span of three years.”

Highlighting the global trend in the banking sector, the NdcTech Limited CEO said that “Cloud banking is becoming popular in Pakistan which is not only secure but it aids banks to scale up operations without huge investments in technology infrastructure”.

“At NdcTech, we are working to introduce solutions for commercial banks which would offer seamless services to customers at their doorsteps rather than at branches. NdcTech is not only providing services to Pakistani banks but also exports its services to different countries including those in the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific region,” she added.

“NdcTech became a partner of Temenos in 2021 and implemented its system in 18 different commercial banks including conventional, Islamic and microfinance banks across Pakistan. This helped the company attract various financial entities to avail its services in the Gulf region,” she explained.

Quoting ITT Minister Haque, Khaleej Times wrote that Pakistan also aims to host its own tech exhibition called ‘Techspring’ in March 2023. Haque also invited all the participating companies and countries to attend and “be delighted by their (Pakistani companies’) inventiveness, talent and professionalism”.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2022.

 

[ghazi52]

.,.

Pakistan, China to launch three new projects​

October 22, 2022



BEIJING, Oct 21 (APP): Pakistan and China have agreed to launch three new corridors, including the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor that would help enhance cooperation in different fields of Information Technology (IT), said Pakistan Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque.

Pakistan has a rich repertoire of talent and human resources in different fields of science and technology and IT-based science and technology have become very important for Pakistan.

“We would be an important source of help for China in terms of software development. So, we are working together to set up training centres in Pakistan for developing software in different fields of IT”, he told China Economic Net (CEN).

He said that the two countries recently agreed to launch three new corridors: the China-Pakistan Green Corridor, which would focus on the agricultural environment, food security, and green development, the China-Pakistan Health Corridor which will help Pakistan get efficiency in the medical field, and then the China-Pakistan Digital Corridor which will boost Pakistan’s IT industry.

Ammar Jaffri, former Additional Director General FIA and founder of Digital Pakistan said that emerging technologies have now become a lifeline for the achievement of The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets.

“We are aiming to organise an international conference about artificial intelligence on March 23, 2023, in which local and foreign enterprises would participate and we would take strategic decisions to engage the government of Pakistan, and international organisations in our mega projects”, he mentioned.

He further said that AI in areas of cyber security, SDGs, and emerging technologies is a much-needed zone where Pakistan has to work with China while Pakistan has a young population advantage in the region.