IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

On 19th January 2016, a fresh study titled “Realizing Digital Pakistan”, by the second largest Mobile Network Operator Telenor, was launched by Minister of State for Information Technology (IT) Anusha Rahman.

The study, under the title ‘Roadmap’, quotes (from Pakistan 2025 – One Nation, One Vision) the prime minister to create ‘Digital Pakistan Commission’ with key cabinet members along with the private sector, academia and NGO representatives to formulate a plan to accelerate digitalisation across all economic sectors in view of matching Malaysia’s key ICT performance indicators by 2020 and implementing all goals of Pakistan 2025.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan(SECP) has made it mandatory for all listed companies to file their documents, returns, accounts and applications through SECP's eServices online filing facility.

The documents, returns, accounts and applications meant to be filed with the SECP or the Registrar should be filed through eServices, said SECP statement issued Wednesday.

Tania Aidrus, the former Google executive who is leading Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Digital Pakistan initiative, says she is overwhelmed by the support she is receiving.

The former Google executive, in a tweet, asked people to share their “ideas and input” on the five priorities of Digital Pakistan on email.

She said that the project will create local employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and extend broadband to provide distance education and ICT literacy. The Minister said the empowering the people of Pakistan through seamless access to accurate information and reliable services by means of ICT applications and Telecom platforms; and establishing a knowledge based economy is the vision and objective of the government.

Much of this renewed political interest has been driven by Pakistan’s telecommunications revolution. Over 50 million voters verified their polling stations through their mobile phones and the elections were tweeted, blogged, and plastered across Facebook. In fact, the way I see it, the elections presented a major victory not only for Pakistan, but also placed a massive feather in the collective caps of telecom companies.

Change is the only constant and one has to keep evolving through new trends in order to compete with the changing dynamics of the world. There is no denying the fact that any country’s economic growth is now directly linked to one factor i.e., adoption of information and communications technology. The adoption of digitalisation is the new reality where majority of population has access to mobile phones and internet than to basic necessities of life. Digitalisation is not a choice, it is the need of the hour, therefore, the governments are now determining their policies and strategies for digitalising every sector, to promote and strengthen their socio-economic fabric.

Keeping in view the current scenario, the COVID-19 has had a major impact on almost all socio-economic sectors, the digital world has never been more important than it is today, Digitalisation is the new normal where consumers are buying everything online whether it is to buy groceries and essentials or to socialise and virtually reach with friends and family. During this critical time, many of these adoptions will persist long even after the situation has stabilised.

Digital payments have transformed the way businesses receive payments and also the way consumers make payments. Be it online money transfer, paying utility bills, or having a personal mobile wallet to save money, digital payment gateways have the potential to usher the country into an era of efficient cashless economy.

Although the advantages of digital payments are widespread, Pakistan has remained slow in adopting this new technological intervention. The need to accelerate the digital payment ecosystem in Pakistan.

The most heated topic nowadays is “Fin-Tech” which is revolutionizing the financial world by unbarring new doors for many businesses. The word “Fin-Tech” is not new; it describes the use of technology to deliver financial services and products to consumers. This could be anything related to finance like banking, insurance, investment, commerce, etc. Fin-tech is changing the world of finance for consumers in countless ways. For example, without physically visiting a bank, you can now open a bank account over the internet. You can also link the account to your smartphone and use it to monitor your transactions. You can even turn your smartphone into a “digital wallet” and use it to pay for things using money in your account. The unlimited use of internet on devices like smartphones and tablets has accelerated the speed of this change greatly in recent years.

Pakistan’s largest city and commercial center, Karachi, is a city of extremes where the richest live alongside the country’s poorest. Perfectly coiffed women with foreign degrees and fancy handbags tour around the city’s designer malls. At the other end of the spectrum, a range of hurdles leave women from the poorest sections of society struggling to access basic services, particularly healthcare.

Telemedicine is a system where medical information is transferred via telephone, the Internet or other networks.

Through the initiative, patients can receive medical care ranging from cardiac assessment to dermatology to acute illnesses.

Federal Minister for IT & Telecom welcomed the World Bank Country Director in his office, and matters of mutual interests and related to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), digitalization and connectivity were discussed during the meeting. Federal Secretary Ministry of IT Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui was also present in the meeting.

Talking to World Bank Country Director, Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Syed Amin Ul Haque said that under Digital Pakistan vision, provision of broadband services across the country is top priority of the Ministry of IT. He said The IT & IT enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising of computer services and call center services surged to US $379.251 million at a growth rate of 43.55% during the first three months (July-September) of FY 2020-21, in comparison to US $264.187 million during the same period during FY 2019-20.