Pakistan falling behind in IT and Telecom
The GSMA has warned investors will walk away and the people of Pakistan will pay the price if urgent reforms are not held in the telecom policy.
The concerns were expressed by speakers at the ‘GSMA Digital Nation Summit’ held Islamabad on Thursday.
Bilal Azhar, minister of state for finance, highlighted the achievements and the efforts by the government towards achieving the Digital Pakistan initiative.
He highlighted that digitalisation of economy includes reforms in the FBR with the usage of AI, enhancing the cashless economy, and increasing digital public infrastructure.
“We have set the target to enforce digitalisation of all government payments within 18 months, and this includes not just issuing cheques but implement end to end cashless system,” he added.
He said that the answer to the problems faced by the masses was only digital driven solutions.
The CEO Telenor Pakistan Khurrum Ashfaq highlighted that many complaints faced by the telecom sector had nothing to do with the IT and telecom industry, – like load shedding, but it was impacting the telecom sector.
Incidentally, even the Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Maj. Gen. (retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman, acknowledged that the road to ‘Digital Pakistan’ initiative was zig-zag and difficult.
He referred to high charges by different government departments for laying fibre optic cable and said that the government has recently decided that all such ‘Right of Way’ charges will be abolished.
While, chairman Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) Sajjad Syed expressed a gloomy picture of the IT sector in country. He added that the whole of nation approach was needed to ensure growth of IT sector.
Chairman P@SHA also expressed concerns that the growth rate of Pakistan’s IT exports was on the decline – it was alarming.
“This means that IT industry was moving out of the country,” Mr Syed added. Later Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA, highlighted that the telecom sector in Pakistan suffered from high taxes, low spectrum and lack of long term policies.
Talking to media after the Summit . Mr Gorman said that reducing taxation on telecom sector despite being in the IMF programme was possible because it was done by some other countries too including Argentina.
“If urgent reforms are not held the investors will move away to any country,” he said, “Similarly, freelancers are an important category in Pakistan but their profession will finish if they do not have more internet and electricity.”He also added that the demand for the spectrum has increased – “We recommend the government to reduce this spectrum usage and availability gap.
”Mr Gorman, also expressed the concerns that the digitalisation speed in Pakistan was slow.“We are getting at critical point the AI and other technology was growing all around the world at a very fast pace,” he said.
The head of GSMA, Asia Pacific also noted that Pakistan should fast track the satellite based internet too as it was beneficial for overall economy, IT sector and social life of the country.
While, stressing for higher usage of internet the GSMA has highlighted for the importance of ‘digital trust’.“From personal identity and details of money to important information – digital trust was essential, the system has to provide digital safety to the consumers,” Mr Gorman added.
During the summit, the GSMA publication ‘Unlocking Pakistan’s Digital Potential: Reform, Trust and Opportunity, was also launched.
The report also highlighted that Pakistan was falling behind in 5G rollout across the Asia Pacific region, as the regional countries were accelerating their 5G rollout to power smart cities, digital industries and inclusive growth.
The report has highlighted that Pakistan’s 5G rollout has remained stalled – it was not just about faster speeds, 5G was about enabling real time services, industrial automation and digital inclusion.
The report also highlighted that the smartphones had a combined customs duties and taxes of up to 40 percent, while mobile broadband services face multiple layers of taxation.
The GSMA report emphasised the importance of aligning fiscal policy with Pakistan’s digital-development goals. Ends
