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ISLAMABAD: The IT industry has claimed that one hour of internet outage or disruption results in a loss of more than one million dollars for the whole sector, including export businesses.
In a media talk on Tuesday, Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@sha) Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed said authorities have acknowledged that Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) cannot be banned as there was no law to do so.
Mr Syed, who heads the premier representative body of the country’s IT industry, added the association had informed the IT ministry and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) that regular internet slowdowns and unannounced disruptions were hurting IT service exports.
“We have told the government that a one-hour internet slowdown might not have any significant impact on people, but disturbed services to a client in any stock market, airport service, bank, etc., in advanced countries would eventually lead to loss of confidence in Pakistan’s IT sector,” Mr Syed said.
P@sha chairman says companies moving abroad due to unreliable connectivity, suggests alternative plan to streamline VPN use
“If these clients shift to any other country, bringing them back won’t be easy,” he warned.
P@sha has expressed concerns over recent internet outages, and an internal survey of the association revealed that the majority of its members claimed to have suffered financial losses as their foreign clients have also expressed concerns about the situation.
According to NetBlocks’ Cost of Shutdown Tool — which estimates losses by using indicators from the World Bank, International Telecommunication Union, Eurostat and US Census — a complete internet outage for one hour in Pakistan could result in a loss of $2.21.
Last year, the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, a think tank, estimated that due to the closure of 3G/4G services, businesses face a direct loss of Rs1.3 billion every day.
This is without the indirect loss faced by businesses, which was “unaccounted for”.
VPN registration
The P@sha chairman was flanked by other members, including Dr Sonia Saleem and Syed Junaid Ahmed, who said unlike other industries, entry into the IT sector was easier since the only raw material required was trained human resources and infrastructure requirements — computers, laptops and internet connections.
Due to these internet disruptions and other restrictions, many Pakistani IT companies were establishing their offices in other countries, the P@sha chairman added.
He added that the association has offered an alternate plan to the government, which protects the industry and addresses security concerns.
“Currently, whenever we express our business concerns, authorities respond with their national security concerns,” Mr Syed said.
On the question of VPN registration, Mr Syed said the only solution was to introduce the concept of VPN service providers.
It will create a new line of business and streamline the issue of registration of VPNs, he added.
P@sha has explained the technical aspects of the concept to PTA and the IT ministry, which will also help maintain the smooth flow of internet services to the IT companies.
According to Mr Syed, 55 per cent of Pakistan’s IT exports were to the US and around 20pc to Europe. The rest were clients in Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions.
He said Pakistan needed to adopt the IT security system implemented in the US and other European countries, as most business for local firms comes from there.
The authorities should not follow the footsteps of countries like North Korea, Mr Syed warned.
Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2024
Kalbe Ali is a senior staff reporter for Dawn based in Islamabad, with nearly 20 years of field reporting experience. He covers a diverse range of topics, including the internet, IT and telecom sectors, as well as religious affairs.
