{"id":84450,"date":"2025-08-30T19:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=84450"},"modified":"2025-08-30T19:38:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T14:38:23","slug":"pakistans-it-sector-5g-digital-reforms-growth-plans-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/technology\/pakistans-it-sector-5g-digital-reforms-growth-plans-unveiled\/","title":{"rendered":"Pakistan’s IT sector: 5G, digital reforms & growth plans unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Islamabad: The Minister of Information Technology<\/a> held an in-camera briefing on the progress of the 5G spectrum and digital development initiatives in Pakistan, outlining key advancements and future goals for the sector.<\/p>\n

Key highlights of the briefing included:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    IT Sector Growth<\/strong>: Pakistan\u2019s IT exports have reached USD 3.8 billion, with freelancers contributing USD 0.7 billion, reflecting a significant 91% growth.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Digital Initiatives<\/strong>: The Pakistan Digital Authority has been established to create a national digital blueprint targeting agriculture, health, and education sectors.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Skills Development<\/strong>: A push to train 300,000 individuals is underway, with a target of 1 million, aimed at creating strong job opportunities and a positive economic multiplier effect.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Affordable Internet<\/strong>: The government\u2019s priority remains to ensure affordable high-bandwidth internet access for all citizens.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Submarine Cables<\/strong>: Pakistan plans to expand international submarine cable capacity to enhance global connectivity.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  6. \n

    Fiberization<\/strong>: Currently, only 14% of telecom towers are connected to fiber optics. The government plans to achieve ambitious targets in collaboration with local fiber partners over the next three years.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  7. \n

    Right-of-Way (RoW) Reforms<\/strong>: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has removed fees for Right-of-Way in Islamabad, with similar moves expected from the National Highway Authority (NHA) and Railways following a letter issued on August 27. Previously, the fees stood at Rs 36 per meter annually.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  8. \n

    Wireless to Fiber Shift<\/strong>: With 98% of the network wireless, the focus is now shifting to fiber backhaul to improve network efficiency.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  9. \n

    Youth Empowerment<\/strong>: The government is enhancing tech park infrastructure with 25 new co-working spaces, adding 2,800 seats for aspiring entrepreneurs and tech professionals.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  10. \n

    5G Spectrum Roadmap<\/strong>: The Ministry is focusing on the sale of 600 MHz of spectrum, with a rollout expected within three months after the auction.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  11. \n

    Satellite Internet<\/strong>: The licensing process has been streamlined, with an international consultant onboard and an open space policy in place to attract global entrants.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  12. \n

    Challenges in the Sector<\/strong>: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) noted that while the sector has grown, it faces congestion, high operating costs, and 37.4% taxes. The country\u2019s telecom sector still relies heavily on 2G networks.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  13. \n

    Sector Bottlenecks<\/strong>: Key challenges include Right-of-Way issues, lack of fiber infrastructure, high capital expenditure, power gaps, limited backhaul capacity, and a shortage of international data centers.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  14. \n

    5G Trial and Auction<\/strong>: A 5G trial policy was initiated in October 2017, and the auction process began in 2023. The market remains under-supplied in spectrum, but litigation regarding Sun TV and MMDS is expected to resolve soon.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  15. \n

    Future Outlook<\/strong>: The government aims to hold a spectrum auction by December 2025, which is expected to boost GDP, exports, and job creation. Advancements in regulations, including national roaming, SIM security, VoWiFi, 3G sunset, Wi-Fi 6E\/7, and cybersecurity, are also underway.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The briefing emphasized the government’s commitment to building a digitally connected Pakistan, with plans for comprehensive reforms to unlock the full potential of the tech sector and enable significant growth in telecommunications and IT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Islamabad: The Minister of Information Technology held an in-camera briefing on the progress of the 5G spectrum and digital development initiatives in Pakistan, outlining key advancements and future goals for the sector. Key highlights of the briefing included: IT Sector Growth: Pakistan\u2019s IT exports have reached USD 3.8 billion, with freelancers contributing USD 0.7 billion, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[4913,4210,11120],"class_list":["post-84450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","category-technology","tag-pakistan-telecommunication-authority","tag-pta","tag-5g"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84451,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84450\/revisions\/84451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}