ISLAMABAD: Persisting internet woes dominated the discourse at the National Broadband Network Forum 2024 on Monday, where the government presented its achievements, while industry stakeholders lamented sluggish broadband speed and other infrastructure issues.

The event, organised by the Pakistan Telecommuni­cation Authority (PTA) in collaboration with Huawei, was addressed by Senate Chairman Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and Minister of State for IT & Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja.

Mr Gillani called upon the government to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas and implement Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions in all sectors of life.

The Senate chairman said the government should provide high-quality internet and information technology services to the public.

“To achieve this, the government has to remove barriers for internet efficiency, and public-private partnerships were needed to further the digital agenda of the government,” Mr Gillani added.

He also underlined the need to address challenges like cybersecurity, data privacy and equitable access to the internet.

“We are committed to providing comprehensive legislative support for the implementation of progressive policies to enhance efficiencies, remove barriers and encourage investment and innovation in the telecom sector,” Mr Gillani said while talking about parliament’s role in enabling digital transformation.

The speakers acknowledged that key issues faced by the IT & telecom sector were internet shutdown and throttling and restrictions on certain apps. They warned these issues would “reduce the interest of investors in the 5G”.

Aamir Ibrahim, the CEO of Jazz, expressed cautious optimism about plans to roll out 5G in Pakistan.

He said, “4G for all is better than 5G for few,” and added that the mistakes of the previous spectrum auction should not be repeated in the upcoming 5G auction scheduled for April 2025.

“Why is the government sitting on spare spectrum?” he asked, adding that currently, there was around 15mbps spectrum in Pakistan, whereas the national demand was around 100mbps.

Ms Khawaja, the IT minister, assured the stakeholders of the government’s continued support in bridging the digital divide.

While acknowledging the challenges faced by the IT and telecom sector, she said these issues were related to cyber security and the use of technology by extremists.

The government was taking steps to improve the internet speed, she said and expressed confidence that satellite-based internet would increase internet penetration across the country.

Ms Khawaja said addressing the cyber security challenge was “the need of the hour” and even developed countries have introduced legislation to curtail internet for children.

Zarar Khan, the secretary of IT and telecom ministry, said sustained efforts were underway to build a “digitally inclusive Pakistan”.

PTA Chairman retired Maj-Gen Hafeezur Rehman and Feng Zhishan, the president of Optical Access at Huawei, highlighted the importance of innovation in achieving connectivity.

Mr Rehman also said that VPNs can be blocked, but the decision in this regard has to be taken by the government as PTA can only execute official directives.

Later, PTA officials said the government was working to resolve the VPN issue by registering proxies to support freelancers and individuals using these tools.

It was highlighted that the current system only allows registration of VPNs for a few sectors, including IT companies, banks, foreign missions, etc. Arrangements have been made to register VPNs used by freelancers as well, officials added.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2024