Islamabad
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, in its first year, deposited Rs 4.76 billion of dividends to the national exchequer on account of shareholding in the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).
According to the one year performance report of Naya Pakistan, achievements of the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom, during the last one year, covering areas like ease of doing business, bridging the digital divide, promoting entrepreneurship, increasing foreign exchange earnings and austerity are as follows:
– Bridging the data divide through digital inclusion promoting integration projects have been launched to provide voice & broadband services in areas of North/ South Waziristan, FR Bannu/Lakki/Tank, Dadu/Hyderabad & Bahawalpur Districts (3,100 Mauzas) benefiting a population of approximately 6.5 Million.
-Forty unserved tehsils/towns are being connected with 900Km optical fiber cable covering Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Kurram & FR (Peshawar) areas.
-Through National Roaming Services, 1,795 kms of unserved segments of National Highways including N10 (Uthal to Jiwani), N25 (Hub to Uthal, Uthal to Quetta), N65 (Quetta to Dera Allah Yar), N50 (Kuchlak to Sherani) and N70 (Killa Saifullah to Rakni)
-Increasing software exports by establishing linkage between foreign and local ICT sector investors: The registration process of IT and IT enabled services companies with Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) is now paperless and automated, powering a real time online company directory, searchable by international investors, partners and customers.
This, in turn, has allowed for the number of IT & ITeS companies registered with the government to rise to 2,013 as of 30th June, 2019 compared to 1,762 registrations in the previous year showing an annual growth rate of 14.24%.
As of 30th June 2019, IT & IT enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances have surged to $902 million at a growth rate of 8.19%, whereas, PSEB estimates that total IT & ITeS exports are US$ 4.1 billion that include $0.5 billion earned by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Independent Consultants & Freelancers.—APP
