The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), which is in charge of executing the digital Pakistan framework, was ranked fifteenth out of 10 ministries in the Government of Pakistan’s annual performance report.
Despite its successes, it was not among the top 10 ministries despite generating a large amount of revenue over the last three years and drafting various policies and bills for the execution of the framework for ‘Digital Pakistan.’
Over the last three years, officials from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said they had launched more than 49 broadband projects worth Rs. 50 billion in remote areas of the country to boost connectivity, while also earning more than Rs. 270 billion in revenue.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications successfully auctioned spectrum in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), as well as extra spectrum.
It made $30.3 million from spectrum auctions in AJK and GB, as well as $279 million from further spectrum auctions.
In addition, the ministry made a $50 million profit by renewing the licenses of three big companies: Telenor, Warid, and Ufone. By renewing the license of the main telecom operator Jazz, it also deposited 45 billion with the government.
IT exports have soared, surpassing $3 billion for the first time in Pakistan’s history. A million young people in the country received freelancing training from the ministry.
According to the Ministry of Information, Technology and Telecommunications, freelancers made $216.788 million in export earnings in the first half of this fiscal year, up 16.74 percent from last year’s $185.698 million. Users of 3G and 4G have surpassed 108 million, while cellular customers have surpassed 189 million.
In the last three years, the MoITT has also created social media guidelines, a right of way policy, a cloud-first policy, a cyber-security policy, a personal data protection bill, a smartphones preparation policy, and an NITB bill.
In view of these accomplishments, the government’s decision to eliminate their split among the top ten ministries astounds its officials.
The ministry has produced plans and policies that will have long-term effects, which may explain the ranking because these initiatives have a smaller day-to-day impact but are extremely useful in setting the path to the digital Pakistan framework.
To read our blog on “KP is launching a youth-focused digital skills training program,” click here.
