ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Syed Aminul Haque launched the pilot of Pakistan’s first ever communication application ‘Beep Pakistan’ on Monday. The app would be accessible to general public after a year.

The Beep Pakistan application is a local version of global voice, text and video sharing platform WhatsApp and it has been developed by National Information Technology Board (NITB).

The minister also inaugurated the new web version of the E-office platform, and addressing the ceremony he said that the Beep Pakistan application comprises features including document sharing, secured messaging, quick audio, video, and conference calls, adding that its data will be securely hosted in Pakistan.

The data of the app will be stored by the National Telecommunication Service (NTC), and initially the platform will have a month of test run.

During this period, it will be open for use for all government officers and officials and the NITB will address the needs of the application based on the feedback from the officials. After the successful use at government level, the app will be opened for the masses after one year.

He said the application strives to revolutionise the way government employees communicate and enhance their productivity.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2023