ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan IT Industry Association (P@SHA) has highlighted the transformative potential of 5G technology, terming it a crucial catalyst needed to boost the country’s IT exports and digital economy exponentially.
To streamline and expand the connectivity spectrum, the government earlier this week successfully conducted a 5G spectrum auction, which generated $507 million in foreign exchange.
In a statement released on Friday, P@SHA, the apex representative body of the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sectors, emphasised that the transition to multi-gigabit 5G infrastructure was not merely an upgrade in internet speed, but a necessary enabler for next-generation technological advancement and global competitiveness.
“The rollout will deliver ultra-low latency and massive network capacity while unlocking several key benefits for the national economy as global integration will be made smoother on the back of reliable, high-speed connectivity, allowing software houses and tech enterprises to seamlessly integrate with global supply chains,” it said.
Zero-latency communication is expected to empower Pakistani firms to deliver complex, data-heavy projects to international clients with unprecedented efficiency, which will lead to further acceleration in IT exports.
In his remarks, P@SHA Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed explained that 5G was indispensable for catalysing emerging technologies as the next-generation IT services would provide the essential backbone for data-intensive technologies.
“This will accelerate the local development and deployment of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and augmented reality applications across sectors like healthcare, education, agriculture and smart city infrastructure,” he said.
The association urged the Ministry of IT and Telecom to ensure a rapid, equitable and industry-friendly rollout to meet the sector’s growing infrastructure demand.
