By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Microsoft Corp. is shutting down its direct operations in Pakistan after a 25-year presence, opting to serve the market through resellers and regional offices, a move the company described as a strategic shift to a partner-led model amid a global pivot to cloud-based services.
The decision surfaced on Friday through a LinkedIn post by Jawad Rehman, the former head of Microsoft in Pakistan, who wrote that the company “is officially closing its operations in Pakistan.”
A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the closure to TechCrunch, saying the company will now rely on resellers and “other closely located Microsoft offices” to support Pakistani customers.
“We follow this model successfully in a number of other countries around the world,” the spokesperson said. “Our customers remain our top priority and can expect the same high level of service going forward.”
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom pushed back on Saturday against suggestions that Microsoft was abandoning the market. In a statement, the ministry framed the closure as a transition to a partner-led, cloud-based delivery model, not a retreat from the South Asian nation.
The ministry pointed out that Microsoft had already moved its licensing and commercial-contract management for Pakistan to its European hub in Ireland in recent years, with day-to-day service delivery handled entirely by certified local partners. “Against that backdrop, we understand Microsoft is now reviewing the future of its liaison office in Pakistan as part of a wider workforce-optimisation program,” the statement said.
“This would reflect a long-signaled strategy, consolidating direct headcount and moving toward a partner-led, cloud-based delivery model, rather than a retreat from the Pakistani market.”
The shift comes as Pakistan’s IT sector logs notable gains. Data from the State Bank of Pakistan show IT exports hit $3.4 million from July 2024 to May 2025, up from $2.9 million in the same period a year earlier.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government has been pressing to expand these exports to bolster the country’s $350 billion economy, making Microsoft’s move a point of scrutiny.
Seeking to ease concerns, the IT ministry stressed that the closure aligns with broader industry trends. “The global pivot from on-premise software (transactional deals) to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) continues to reshape how technology firms structure their international operations, and Microsoft is no exception,” the statement said.
“Pakistan’s Ministry of IT & Telecom recognizes the strategic value of having leading global technology providers active in the country,” it continued. “We will continue to engage Microsoft’s regional and global leadership to ensure that any structural changes strengthen, rather than diminish, Microsoft’s long-term commitment to Pakistani customers, developers, and channel partners.”
The closure marks the end of a quarter-century of Microsoft’s direct footprint in Pakistan, but the company and the government alike signaled that the market remains in play, just under a different playbook.
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