Meng Qiang
Pakistan’s commitment to growing its ICT sector was recently underlined by a government announcement of a massive investment of nearly Rs. 5.4 billion towards ICT projects under the latest budget.
A closer examination of the planned budgetary spending reveals Pakistan’s ambitions and where the government believes future growth lies. The government has earmarked Rs. 179 million to establish a data center to provide cloud-based services in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). There’s Rs. 50 million marked for implementing critical telecom data and infrastructure security regulations and Rs. 50 million proposed for expansion of optical transmission networks. Additional funding will also go towards AI innovation, development of broadband services in AJK and training of IT professionals through the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB).
These investments come at a time when exports of Pakistani IT and IT-enabled services are booming, expected to hit US$3.5 billion by the end of the year. The country is also home to more than 300,000 IT professionals, produces more than 25,000 IT graduates annually and has nurtured over 700 tech start-ups since 2010. In fact, the nation has the fourth highest-earning IT workforce in the world.
The recent budget announcements bode well for ICT sector development. If Pakistan is going to remain competitive on the global stage, then it needs to ensure investment in key technologies – such as ubiquitous, high-speed...
Read Full Story: https://pakobserver.net/govt-industry-working-together-for-a-digital-pakistan/
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