By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was briefed on Monday that Pakistan’s information-technology exports are projected to hit $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion in the current fiscal year, the Prime Minister’s Office said, underscoring the government’s focus on expanding one of the country’s most dynamic sources of foreign exchange.
Sharif chaired a meeting in Islamabad to review the performance of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication. Officials told him that the number of domestic internet connections had climbed to 5.1 million this year from 1.9 million in 2024. They also reported that a recently completed 5G spectrum auction had raised $509 million in revenue, which they described as the world’s largest such auction since 2016.
The government has stepped up efforts to promote artificial intelligence. In February 2025 it held “Indus AI Week” in 30 cities, drawing more than 100 international delegates and featuring 88 exhibition pavilions, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Fibre-optic connectivity has now been extended to government schools and health facilities in Islamabad. Free internet hotspots across the capital are in their final stages of deployment, while e-learning pods are being installed at Saidpur Model Village and Fatima Jinnah Park, according to the statement.
Sharif told officials that expanding the IT sector and lifting related exports remain among the government’s foremost priorities. He directed them to accelerate work on establishing Asaan Khidmat Centres in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and to work with provincial governments to introduce similar facilities elsewhere.
The prime minister called for closer coordination with provincial and district administrations to narrow the digital divide between urban and rural areas. Pakistan’s young population possesses “immense potential” in the IT sector that “must be fully utilised,” he said.
The IT and IT-enabled services industry has emerged as a critical pillar of Pakistan’s economy in recent years, helping to cushion the country’s external accounts during recurring balance-of-payments strains. The sector delivered a record $3.8 billion in exports in fiscal 2025, an 18% increase from the previous year. Monthly exports breached the $400 million mark for the first time in December 2025. Remittances from ICT exports rose nearly 20% to $2.61 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, according to government data released earlier.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
