KARACHI: The government is expected to launch 5G technology in July next year, which was earlier announced to be done by December.

IT and Telecommunications Minister Syed Amin ul Haq while announcing the new date vowed that the initiative would help further boost the IT industry and its export at an exponential rate. Addressing a ceremony at the UBIT Career Fest 2022, organised by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Karachi, the minister was confident the fresh deadline for the launch of the 5G technology would be met without any further delay.

“Our IT industry has already witnessed robust growth,” he said. “As compared to the other 43 ministries of Pakistan, the highest increase in exports has been registered by the IT and telecommunication sector. The exports of other ministries increased by 2 to 3pc only over the last couple of years while the exports of IT and telecom jumped by 47.44pc during the same period. “It reflects the potential which we need to capitalise on,” the minister remarked.

He said that future job needs can be met with the cooperation of industry and universities as the young IT graduates can grab the growing opportunities being offered by the IT companies amid huge funding of $373 million from the government for the startups.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2022