IT is generally argued and rightly so that Pakistan can overcome its financial and economic challenges to a great extent by focusing on the Information Technology (IT) sector but this potential could not be realized due to flawed policies. It is a matter of shame that the latest report of the Ookla Speedtest Global Index has ranked Pakistan among the lowest globally in internet speed in October. As per its index, the country ranked at 100 out of 111 countries in mobile internet speeds with a download speed of 20.61Mbps and upload speed of 8.53Mbps. In terms of broadband speeds, Pakistan was ranked at 141 out of 158 countries with a download speed of 15.60Mbps and upload speed of 15.53Mbps.
Mobile internet and broadband are the backbone of not only the IT industry but they play a crucial role in the lives of the ordinary citizens as well. Our freelancers rank 4th globally with over 400 million annual remittances to the country and technology companies doing more than $2.8bn annually with more than 0.6m people employed. The expansion of broadband infrastructure and the affordability of technology have played pivotal roles in this growth. This increased accessibility to the internet has opened up new avenues for innovation and expansion, benefiting enterprises across the nation. With a skilled workforce, a conducive business environment and a growing startup ecosystem, Pakistan can become a significant player in the global technology market. The Federal and provincial governments not only announce digitization plans almost on a daily basis but Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is eyeing at achieving an IT export target of $25 billion in the next three years. A state of the art technology park is under construction in Islamabad and the Government has active plans to auction 5G in April next year. All these steps and programmes are aimed at realizing the IT potential but no meaningful progress is expected if the ongoing dilemma of slow internet speed is not resolved on a priority basis. This is because our freelancers are losing business and IT companies are fed up with the prevailing environment as they are unable to meet contract obligations due to Internet speed, disruptions in electricity supply and frequent breakdown of the law and order situation leading to wheel-jams and shutter downs. The world is rapidly moving ahead on the road of IT revolution but we are obsessed with retrogressive actions like internet firewalls and banning VPNs.
Reports indicate that both WiFi and mobile data services were experiencing severe slowdowns, making it nearly impossible for users to send or receive media files, such as images, videos and voice notes on popular platforms like WhatsApp. The most shocking aspect of the entire situation is that there is no satisfactory response to a situation that is causing not only numerous difficulties to people of Pakistan because of the role the internet plays in their daily lives but also lost economic opportunities for the country in terms of business activities and exports. It is also regrettable that people are not getting the quality of service despite paying the due charges to service providers because of the ongoing unexplained situation. It is because of the tremendous loss of opportunities that the IT professionals and companies are seeking intervention by the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) urging it to provide robust strategic support to overcome barriers to growth of the IT sector. They also refer to several other obstacles restricting their competitiveness in the global market like absence of major payment processors such as PayPal, high shipping costs, extended delivery times, limited access to global marketplaces, trust issues, high operational costs and currency volatility. These and other related issues must be addressed on a priority basis to clear the way for a quantum jump in IT growth and exports.
