ISLAMABAD, May 17: Pakistan is expecting an investment of $3 to $4 billion with an additional jobs creation for 15,000 to 20,000 people in the information technology sector in the next five years.
This was stated by federal information technology minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari at a seminar organized by the PTCL at a local hotel on Monday. The event was held in connection with the ITU/World Telecom Day.
Pakistan is poised for a telecom revolution, as reflected by a huge growth being witnessed in the sector due to an ideal business climate and investment opportunities, the minister said.
Mr Leghari, who has recently returned from London where he represented Pakistan's delegation at an investment conference, said a number of foreign companies, having annual turnover ranging from $200 to $300 million, were keen to invest in Pakistan's IT and telecom sector in partnership with local players.
He said his ministry not only wanted to bring these foreign investors to Pakistan, but also desired to help about 30 to 40 local companies capable of employing about 2,000 people in the sector. "We are already negotiating with successful local business groups to convince them to invest in the IT and IT- enabled services," he added.
He maintained that opportunities, both in the fixed-line and mobile cellular sector, had shown investors' confidence in well balanced, internationally aligned and investment-friendly policies of the government.
The IT ministry believes that socio-economic development is mainly driven by information and communication technologies, resulting in a more just, prosperous and equitable society, Mr Leghari said.
"We are also focusing on the training of top-quality human resource that can contribute to the growth of businesses as well as the economy," he added. The minister said the country's telecom sector had also registered a tremendous growth over the last couple of years.
"We have achieved 100 per cent digitalization of switching system, while internet is now expanded to over 1,800 cities from 29 cities a few years ago. Similarly, bandwidth rates have been reduced considerably, while the internet bandwidth availability in the country has increased from 35 Mbps to 410 Mbps in last few years," he added.
Speaking on the occasion, federal IT secretary Khalid Saeed said telecommunications had become a vast field with countless dimensions. "This expansion is going on with cruising speed and it is hard to imagine life without telecommunications," he said.
