DigitAll: What happens when women of Pakistan get access to digital and tech tools? A lot!
by Javeria Masood – Head of Solutions Mapping, UNDP Pakistan

https://www.undp.org/pakistan/blog/digitall-what-happens-when-women...

4. Solutions are as good a connector as the communal problem
Take the example of healthcare. During the pandemic, we saw the case of herd immunity. Women in Dera Ghazi Khan are using this approach for other health concerns by self-help. Mujahida Perveen from UC Pega got diagnosed with Thyroid disease. She has found information on YouTube to manage her concerns and is educating others to take their symptoms seriously, get tested and adopt healthy choices.

‘I searched on YouTube about what a thyroid patient should do. I followed the recommended food intake and exercises and see a huge improvement.’

5. Local access does not limit global opportunities
Including women in the workforce has a strategic advantage at both a community and country scale. This perpetuates the flow of money and opportunities. Ayesha Abushakoor from Zawar Wala is a Quran teacher who has students within and outside the country and uses Digital Wallets to receive her fees.

‘My brother informed me that I can use the internet to provide Quran tuition to children. Now I have students here as well as in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.’

6. Future is supportive men
Ramla’s fathers an outlier in the community. He has four daughters whom he plans on educating, so they can get jobs and improve their lives. Unlike other men in the neighbourhood, he believes in equality and does not conform his daughters to discriminatory societal standards. Women in his family have access to mobile phones and the internet for recreation and education. His eldest daughter, Ramla, is in grade four and is passionate about studying.

‘My father has promised me that he will support me in getting a Master’s degree. During Covid-19, I took pictures of the syllabus made by my teacher and studied it on my father’s phone. He also makes the best biryani (Pakistan’s favourite rice dish)!’

What happens when the society stops putting barriers on women and provides them with access to technology and digital tools? They thrive.

They educate, empower, and enable themselves to empower others. All the women, who shared their stories, had one thing in common. They all thought of financial empowerment as a mechanism to upscale not just themselves, and their immediate families but the whole community. Their thinking and conversations are about long-term societal change.

Innovation and technology do not have a gender and it should not be gender biased in availability. We need to develop infrastructure, policies, and a climate toward an equitable digital future for all.

Pakistan’s UBL Fund Managers taps Codebase for digital onboarding solution

https://www.fintechfutures.com/2023/04/ubl-fund-managers-taps-codeb...


One of Pakistan’s largest mutual fund operators, UBL Fund Managers, has partnered with Codebase to develop and launch a digital onboarding service for its business.


The omnichannel mobile and web application integrates with UBL Fund’s existing infrastructure, allowing customers to open mutual fund accounts “quickly and securely”.

The onboarding solution, which is one of only a few that complies with Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) requirements, has been built using Codebase’s Digibanc platform.

The fintech platform comprises a number of features including external and internal API integration, full API integration with UBL Funds’ existing app, video call scheduling and back-office management workflows.

Billed as the first-of-its-kind in Pakistan, the portal offers access to investments for more than 220 million Pakistani nationals both within and outside the country.

UBL Fund Managers CEO Yaser Qadri says fintech solutions are “outpacing” traditional finance and in order to maintain market leadership, “financial institutions must harness technology to provide customers with seamless onboarding and ease of use”.

The partnership reflects Pakistan’s shift towards digitalisation within investments and mutuals funds.

Until recently, those looking to invest in mutual funds had to meet a company representative or visit an office or branch before filling out forms. The solution developed by Codebase and UBL means customers can complete the process remotely.

Customers can digitally onboard for UBL Funds’ JhatPat E-Account, including both the Sahulat Account (basic, with transaction limits) and the Sarmayakari Account (unlimited, subject to KYC).

‘Digital Pakistan’ in a coma: What is the cost of the broadband shut down?

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/05/11/digital-pakistan-in-...


One of the immediate groups that were affected were gig workers. These are daily workers that earn their money on platforms such as Careem, Foodpanda, and Indrive. These people require stable internet access through mobile phone data to do their jobs. Over these days, Foodpanda and services such as Careem were out of service because their captains and riders had no way of accepting rides/orders or of following maps. To put things in context, there are over 13000 foodpanda and Bykea riders, 30,000 Uber and Careem captains, and around 12,000 Foodpanda home chefs whose daily wages are dependent on broadband data.

Similarly, the shut down also had a serious impact on freelancers. A large number of Pakistanis work for foreign clients remotely on platforms such as Fivver and Upwork providing services ranging from coding to content writing and search engine optimization.

The gig-economy is an emerging sector in Pakistan. Freelancers in the country earned around $400 million in both 2021 and in 2022 which accounts for about 15% of Pakistan’s total $2.6 billion ICT (information-communication-technology) exports.

Almost immediately after the shutdown, both platforms put up signs next to the profiles of Pakistani users saying that the service providers belonged to a country that was experiencing internet outages which could delay their projects. The warning sign was not an exaggeration. A lot of these freelancers depend on broadband data to get their work done. On top of this, the freelancing world is brutal. Clients are very picky and small interruptions can very quickly sour client relationships that take years to build sometimes.

If this were not enough, the dream of a Digital Pakistan took another blow in the form of the Point-of-Sale machines also being out of service. A lot of the terminals you see at stores that are used to accept card payments come with in-built sims that connect them to the internet. As a result, Pakistan’s retail and grocery sector was operating entirely on cash. Even the country’s Federal Board of Revenue uses the data from these machines for tax calculation purposes.

Point of Sale (POS) machines, often known as debit/credit card machines, use sims to establish a network connection and make digital payments. The severance of mobile internet signals has rendered these machines temporarily obsolete, limiting everyone to cash payments only.
Reuters reported that Pakistan’s main digital payment systems fell by around 50% the day after former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest. Data shared with Reuters by 1LINK on POS through its platform showed international payment card transactions were down on Wednesday by 45% in volume, from a daily average of 127,000 during the week of May 1 to 7 to approximately 68,000 on May 10. Ali Habib, spokesperson at HBL, Pakistan’s largest bank, said that it had seen a decline of 60% in the throughput of the POS machines.

Pakistan shut down the internet - but that didn't stop the protests

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-65541769

The battle between Imran Khan's supporters and the powerful Pakistani military has this week been raging on two fronts - on the streets and on social media. And on one battlefield, the former prime minister seems to have the upper hand.

Within hours of Imran Khan's arrest on Tuesday, Pakistan's government had clamped down on the country's internet, in a move to quell resistance.

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Trust that mainstream outlets will adequately inform the public has broken down so much that people go online to find out "what is truly going on", says Uzair Younus, a Pakistani politics expert with The Atlantic Council, a US-based think tank.

"People say 'OK, it's not worth really watching television, because the military is governing what can and cannot be said,'" says Mr Younus.

So when it comes to breaking news like Khan's arrest, people flock online, to reputable journalists and YouTube channels as well as social media.

"I was glued to my screen at work, watching Geo News, one of the country's largest broadcasters," says Mr Younus. "But then I was getting a whole lot more information about protests - who had been shot, where tear gas was being shared - on WhatsApp and on Twitter. Geo was not covering any of that."

Of course, there are all the usual issues that come with relying on social media news - in Pakistan's bitterly complicated political scene, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories are all rampant, and often peddled by the political actors themselves.


No matter what kind of information people are consuming, limiting online access is a gross violation of fundamental rights, says Ms Dad, who runs the Digital Rights Foundation in Lahore.

"When you shut down the Internet, people have no choice in accessing information," she says.

She argues the authorities' blanket ban violates freedom of speech, access to information and the right to assembly - which are all enshrined in Pakistan's constitution. Internet access is a human right recognised by the United Nations.

Most severe censorship yet
But for Pakistanis, internet censorship days have become increasingly common since Mr Khan was voted out by parliament last April.

The charismatic politician has been on the comeback trail ever since, charging around the country on a convoy, loudly claiming his removal was illegitimate and the charges against him are false. He has spurred thousands to attend his rallies.

Netblocks, a UK-based internet monitor, has counted at least three major internet disruptions linked to Khan's rallies before his arrest - but this week's was the worst yet.

"This is possibly the most severe censorship that we've tracked for Pakistan in recent times," Netblocks researcher Alp Toker told the BBC.

"The scale of it and the fact it involves multiple forms of disruption - both the mobile networks and the social platforms - show a concerted effort to control the narrative."

Netblocks identified that the mobile networks affected had gone down in areas in Punjab - a Khan stronghold and Pakistan's most populous province. The telecoms authority later confirmed it had sent around the kill order following a directive from the interior ministry.

For Pakistan's current rulers, shutting down the internet is a significant move and one not taken lightly. It cuts off public access to healthcare, emergency and financial services.

It has been a big hit to an already failing economy, affecting businesses across the country. Tens of millions of Pakistanis - from delivery drivers to the tech community - rely on the Internet to earn a living.

Point-of-sale (POS) transactions routed through Pakistan’s main digital payment systems fell by around 50 per cent the day after former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest ignited countrywide protests and prompted authorities to shut down mobile internet services, data showed on Thursday.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1752340


The reason for the slump was primarily the mobile broadband suspension, in addition to lower footfall at the limited number of stores opened due to the political turmoil, the two largest payments system operators, 1LINK and Habib Bank Limited (HBL), told Reuters.

The violent protests that followed Imran’s arrest on Tuesday by the country’s anti-graft agency have hit commercial activity in Pakistan hard.

Mobile data services have remained shut since Tuesday night on the orders of the interior ministry — the longest such continuous shutdown in a country that often suspends communications as a tool to quell unrest.

Many major roads and businesses have also remained shut, mainly in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city.

Data shared with Reuters by 1LINK on POS through its platform showed international payment card transactions were down on Wednesday by 45pc in volume, from a daily average of 127,000 during the week of May 1 to 7 to approximately 68,000 on May 10.

The daily value of transactions using international payment cards was down 46pc, from Rs606 million to Rs330m on May 10.

1LINK is Pakistan’s major facilitator of POS digital payment transactions for international platforms such as Visa and Mastercard.

Transactions on Pakistan’s only domestic payment scheme, PayPak, were down 52pc in volume to 18,000 transactions on Wednesday, and 56pc down in value to roughly Rs62m.

Ali Habib, spokesperson at HBL, Pakistan’s largest bank, said that it had seen a decline of 60pc in the throughput of the POS machines.

“HBL processes over 30pc of the entire throughput of the POS machines in Pakistan. This is the largest share in the market,” he added.

The State Bank of Pakistan did not immediately respond to questions sent by Reuters.

Cash transactions still dominate Pakistan’s commercial dealings, with much of the market undocumented, but digital payments have been growing fast in the country of 220 million. Many retailers and industrialists across Pakistan have also said their activities had ground to a halt since the protests started on Tuesday.

More than 1,600 people have been arrested while at least five have been killed and hundreds injured in riots, including more than 160 policemen.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) suspended mobile broadband services across the country.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube and Twitter were also down, resulting in demand for virtual private networks to surged by 1,329pc on Wednesday compared with the average, according to Simon Migliano, Head of Research at Top10VPN.

Migliano calculates that the suspension of mobile broadband and social media platforms has cost nearly $100m so far.

Pakistan Telecom Authority and NADRA to work together on multi-finger biometrics


https://www.biometricupdate.com/202303/pakistan-telecom-authority-a...


A memorandum of understanding between the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has established a collaboration on digital ID and biometrics as the country works towards achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and its own ‘Vision 2025’ policy.

The collaboration will cover work on digital identity, a multi-finger biometric verification system, and fraud detection and prevention capabilities, according to an announcement from the PTA.

The MoU states that the organizations will work together to build a coordination mechanism to align their work, as well as knowledge sharing and joint training sessions on relevant issues and technologies.

NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik underlined the importance of the collaboration during a signing event at PTA Headquarters in Islamabad.

Telecoms in Pakistan began using the multi-finger biometric verification system for SIM registration last November, with the system randomly requesting two of the registrant’s fingers for biometric verification to thwart spoofing.

Importance of e-commerce for Pakistan’s growth
Sector may continue growing, driven by internet penetration, middle class

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2404587/importance-of-e-commerce-for-p...

KARACHI:
The e-commerce sector in Pakistan has achieved significant growth over the past few years, thanks to the increasing internet and smartphone penetration.

According to a report of eMarketer, Pakistan’s e-commerce sales are projected to reach $2.1 billion by 2023, up from $1.2 billion in 2018. This article will explore the state of e-commerce sector, its challenges and opportunities, and how it is expected to evolve in the future.

E-commerce in Pakistan is still in its nascent stages, but it is growing rapidly. A report of the State Bank of Pakistan says the number of registered e-commerce merchants increased from 571 in 2015 to 1,516 in 2019. Similarly, the number of e-commerce transactions increased from 3.4 million in 2015 to 29.7 million in 2019.

Several factors are driving the growth of e-commerce. Firstly, the increasing use of smartphones and internet has made it easier for people to shop online.

We Are Social says in its report Pakistan has 97 million internet users, representing 38.7% of the population. Similarly, the number of mobile phone users in the country is expected to reach 161 million by 2025, up from 113.6 million in 2020, according to a report of GSMA.

Secondly, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce, as people are opting for online shopping to avoid physical contact. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority says there was a 35% increase in e-commerce sales during the first wave of the pandemic.

Thirdly, the government of Pakistan has been taking steps to promote e-commerce. In 2019, the government launched the E-commerce Policy Framework, which is aimed at creating an enabling environment for the growth of e-commerce.

The policy includes measures such as simplifying the tax system, improving the logistics infrastructure and providing training and support to e-commerce entrepreneurs.

Despite its rapid growth, the e-commerce sector faces several challenges. One of the biggest challenges is the lack of trust among consumers.

According to a report of the Pakistan Software Export Board, only 18% of Pakistanis have ever made an online purchase, citing concerns of fraud and security as the main reason.

Another challenge is the lack of a robust logistics infrastructure. World Bank says in its report logistics cost accounts for around 18% of the value of goods in Pakistan, compared to 8-10% in developed countries. This is due to factors such as poor road infrastructure, a lack of standardised packaging, and inefficient customs procedures.

Payment infrastructure is also a major challenge. While digital payment solutions such as JazzCash and easypaisa have gained popularity, many people still prefer cash-on-delivery as a payment method. This poses a challenge to e-commerce businesses, as they have to deal with the risk of fraud and non-payment.

Despite the challenges, there are several opportunities. One of the biggest opportunities is the large and growing population of Pakistan. According to the United Nations, Pakistan is the world’s fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 220 million. This represents a huge potential market for e-commerce businesses.

Another opportunity is the growing middle class. McKinsey & Company says Pakistan’s middle class is expected to double by 2030, reaching 100 million people. This presents an opportunity for e-commerce businesses to target a growing market of consumers who have the purchasing power to buy online.

Moreover, the rise of social media presents another opportunity. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are widely used in Pakistan, and many businesses have leveraged these platforms to reach potential customers.

E-commerce businesses can also use social media platforms to market their products and services and reach a wider audience.

Importance of e-commerce for Pakistan’s growth
Sector may continue growing, driven by internet penetration, middle class

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2404587/importance-of-e-commerce-for-p...


Pakistan’s e-commerce sector is expected to continue growing in the coming years, driven by factors such as increasing internet penetration, a growing middle class, and government support. However, the sector also faces several challenges that need to be addressed to ensure its continued growth.

One area that needs improvement is the logistics infrastructure. The government and private sector need to invest in improving the road infrastructure, standardising packaging, and streamlining customs procedures to reduce logistics cost and improve efficiency of the supply chain.

Another area that needs improvement is the payment infrastructure. While digital payment solutions have gained popularity, more needs to be done to increase the adoption of these solutions and reduce reliance on cash-on-delivery.

This includes improving awareness of digital payment solutions, enhancing security measures, and providing incentives to consumers to use digital payments.

For four days last week, Pakistan’s tech industry lost between $3 million and $4 million a day as internet services across the world’s fifth-most populous nation were shut down amid political turmoil.

https://restofworld.org/2023/south-asia-newsletter-political-turmoi...


On May 9, Pakistan’s former prime minister and popular politician Imran Khan was arrested in Islamabad on charges of corruption. This led to widespread protests across the country, and the government imposed an “indefinite” internet shutdown in several regions. On May 12, the Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest illegal, and he was subsequently released. Internet services in Pakistan have now been restored, but the damage has already been done.

The shutdown was a “massive setback” for the country’s IT industry, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a tweet on May 11. “This is an alarming situation, and action needs to be taken urgently to address this issue,” it said in another tweet. “P@SHA demands immediate action to resolve the problem.”

Careem, inDrive, Foodpanda, and Bykea were among the companies that took the worst hit from the internet suspension, reported independent news platform ProPakistani.

Pakistan’s telecomms industry also lost $5.4 million in revenue due to the shutdown, a source told Al Jazeera on May 12. “The devastating effect on the economy is quantifiable but the inconvenience to people is incalculable,” tweeted Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim, CEO of mobile network operator Jazz.


In a letter to the government last week, Pakistan-focused venture capital association VCAP said such “restrictions have an immediate and adverse impact on Pakistan’s startups, which are reliant on such platforms for new user acquisition and growth. The suspension of mobile broadband also greatly impacts Pakistani citizens, who are mobile-first, and use these digital solutions for financial services, mobility, food, commerce, and more.”

Meanwhile, freelance workers in the country also lost access to the outside world during the shutdown. Pakistan is the third-largest global supplier of freelance work, and IT services make up a large chunk of it. Employers seeking Pakistani workers on freelance marketplace Fiverr were met with a note that read: “This freelancer is in a location currently experiencing internet disruptions. As a result, they may not be able to fulfill orders as quickly as usual.”

The crisis could not have come at a worse time for Pakistan’s tech workers, and the industry as a whole. The country has been dealing with a massive economic crisis, with dwindling forex reserves. It is currently waiting on a $1.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged 44% in the first seven months of the 2023 financial year.

Calling it “absolutely nonsense from the international point of view,” Wille Eerola, chairman of the Finland Pakistan Business Council, said the internet shutdown is “only harming — or even destroying — the image of Pakistan as a country for international business and FDI.”

Importance of e-commerce for Pakistan’s growth
Sector may continue growing, driven by internet penetration, middle class

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2404587/importance-of-e-commerce-for-p...


Pakistan’s e-commerce sector is expected to continue growing in the coming years, driven by factors such as increasing internet penetration, a growing middle class, and government support. However, the sector also faces several challenges that need to be addressed to ensure its continued growth.

One area that needs improvement is the logistics infrastructure. The government and private sector need to invest in improving the road infrastructure, standardising packaging, and streamlining customs procedures to reduce logistics cost and improve efficiency of the supply chain.

Another area that needs improvement is the payment infrastructure. While digital payment solutions have gained popularity, more needs to be done to increase the adoption of these solutions and reduce reliance on cash-on-delivery.

This includes improving awareness of digital payment solutions, enhancing security measures, and providing incentives to consumers to use digital payments.

For four days last week, Pakistan’s tech industry lost between $3 million and $4 million a day as internet services across the world’s fifth-most populous nation were shut down amid political turmoil.

https://restofworld.org/2023/south-asia-newsletter-political-turmoi...


On May 9, Pakistan’s former prime minister and popular politician Imran Khan was arrested in Islamabad on charges of corruption. This led to widespread protests across the country, and the government imposed an “indefinite” internet shutdown in several regions. On May 12, the Supreme Court ruled Khan’s arrest illegal, and he was subsequently released. Internet services in Pakistan have now been restored, but the damage has already been done.

The shutdown was a “massive setback” for the country’s IT industry, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a tweet on May 11. “This is an alarming situation, and action needs to be taken urgently to address this issue,” it said in another tweet. “P@SHA demands immediate action to resolve the problem.”

Careem, inDrive, Foodpanda, and Bykea were among the companies that took the worst hit from the internet suspension, reported independent news platform ProPakistani.

Pakistan’s telecomms industry also lost $5.4 million in revenue due to the shutdown, a source told Al Jazeera on May 12. “The devastating effect on the economy is quantifiable but the inconvenience to people is incalculable,” tweeted Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim, CEO of mobile network operator Jazz.


In a letter to the government last week, Pakistan-focused venture capital association VCAP said such “restrictions have an immediate and adverse impact on Pakistan’s startups, which are reliant on such platforms for new user acquisition and growth. The suspension of mobile broadband also greatly impacts Pakistani citizens, who are mobile-first, and use these digital solutions for financial services, mobility, food, commerce, and more.”

Meanwhile, freelance workers in the country also lost access to the outside world during the shutdown. Pakistan is the third-largest global supplier of freelance work, and IT services make up a large chunk of it. Employers seeking Pakistani workers on freelance marketplace Fiverr were met with a note that read: “This freelancer is in a location currently experiencing internet disruptions. As a result, they may not be able to fulfill orders as quickly as usual.”

The crisis could not have come at a worse time for Pakistan’s tech workers, and the industry as a whole. The country has been dealing with a massive economic crisis, with dwindling forex reserves. It is currently waiting on a $1.1 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. Pakistan’s foreign direct investment (FDI) plunged 44% in the first seven months of the 2023 financial year.

Calling it “absolutely nonsense from the international point of view,” Wille Eerola, chairman of the Finland Pakistan Business Council, said the internet shutdown is “only harming — or even destroying — the image of Pakistan as a country for international business and FDI.”

TikTok: The new frontier for political info-wars

https://www.dawn.com/news/1754935

KARACHI: Within mom­ents of the violent protests that broke out across the country on May 9, hours after PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), videos of people vandalising public and private properties, torching buildings, and clashing with police began circulating on social media.

Alarmed, the authorities quickly pulled the plug on mobile internet and blocked public access to Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. The rationale was to not allow the protesters — and in some cases, genuine miscreants — to continue mobilising using the reach of social media.

The government, clearly wary of PTI’s social media prowess, seems to have been satisfied with blocking the three platforms, likely believing the move would be enough to blunt its main rival’s most potent tool.

The PTI is, after all, a juggernaut on the three aforementioned platforms, with an aggregate following of over 17.6 million. However, the government left a flank unguarded: TikTok. They either did not take the platform seriously, or were totally clueless about its potential in narrative warfare.

TikTok is uncharted territory in the social media landscape of Pakistani politics. Only two parties — the PTI and PML-N — have official TikTok accounts. Between the two, the PTI is far ahead in the game. The traction it enjoys is overwhelming.

Its official TikTok account has three million followers and has accumulated over 167.4m likes on its video content. Meanwhile, the PML-N’s follower count stands at a measly 41,300, with just over 770,000 likes on its content.

With Twitter inaccessible, the PTI and its social media team checked the government’s move by leveraging TikTok. It went full throttle on the platform. In four days — from May 9, when Mr Khan was arrested, to May 12, when the Supreme Court ordered his release — 164 videos were posted on PTI’s official account; an average of 41 videos per day.

These videos were viewed by over 100 million people, garnered over 62 million likes and 191,000 comments. They were shared by around 260,000 people. The average engagement on each video was: over 618,000 views, 378,000 likes, 1,165 comments and 1,583 shares.

The PTI shared messages from PTI leaders and montages of Mr Khan in action. While TV screens dedicated themselves to scenes depicting violence, the PTI posted videos showing ‘peaceful’ demonstrations.

It also effectively used the platform to mobilise workers with calls to gather at specific locations in various cities.

Radio silence

The numbers show that the PTI enjoyed an open field on TikTok. The only other political account — the PML-N’s — posted only two videos in the same period, which were viewed for a total of around 134,000 times. Their cumulative engagement was around 9,400 likes, 348 comments and 908 shares.

Videos with the hashtag #fitnaarrested — including those posted by the PML-N official account and its followers — got only about 2.7m views. Meanwhile, videos with the hashtag #ReleaseImranKhan, used by PTI and its followers, got a total of over 233.6m views.

The efficacy of the government’s move to shut down three major social media platforms was debatable, as most people easily bypassed the gag by using a VPN.

As for the objective behind the move — to curb the PTI’s power to mobilise — the numbers from TikTok show that it failed to achieve it. These numbers also showed the futility of attempts to curb the spread of information during a time when there’s a vast range of social media platforms available.

Whether governments — the incumbent and subsequent — learn that lesson is yet to be seen.

PTI’s TikTok juggernaut

On the face of it, TikTok and political discourse do not seem to go hand-in-hand. ‘Fun videos’ is the phrase generally associated with the platform. However, it is a lot more than that. The place is populated by Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2013 — who make up almost 39 per cent of its total users.

TikTok: The new frontier for political info-wars

https://www.dawn.com/news/1754935

PTI’s TikTok juggernaut

On the face of it, TikTok and political discourse do not seem to go hand-in-hand. ‘Fun videos’ is the phrase generally associated with the platform. However, it is a lot more than that. The place is populated by Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2013 — who make up almost 39 per cent of its total users.

For them, TikTok has silently become a forum for serious debate on some of the most contentious issues of our times: from racial justice, climate change and politics, to gender-based violence, etc.

The ‘social side’ of Pakistani politics

The PTI is credited with being the pioneer in using social media for narrative building. The book, Pakistan’s Political Parties: Surviving between Dictatorship and Democracy, co-authored by Niloufer Siddiqui, Mariam Mufti and Sahar Shafqat, describes PTI as an “early mover” on the social media front “when it turned to Twitter and Facebook in order to mobilise the coveted youth vote.”

A 2014 research report on PTI’s use of Twitter by Saifuddin Ahmed and Marko M. Skoric found that its use of Twitter was “the most distinctive as it involved greater interaction with the public, more campaign updates and greater mobilisation of citizens to vote.”

‘Master TikTokers’

It is important to try and understand how the PTI and PML-N differ in their use of TikTok and what their content tells us about their strategy, narrative and messaging. As part of our research, we analysed the content published on both accounts. We took a sample of 144 videos from PTI’s account and 100 videos from PML-N’s account.

Since PTI publishes several videos every day, we restricted our sample to videos posted across five dates: March 8, March 14 to 16, and March 18. These dates were chosen as the account witnessed the most activity on these days.

On March 8, PTI workers came face to face with the police and a supporter, Ali Bilal, aka Zille Shah, died. From March 14 to 16, police laid a siege at the PTI chairman’s Zaman Park residence to arrest him, leading to another face-off with police. On March 18, Mr Khan arrived in Islamabad to appear before a court, resulting in a new standoff between the police and PTI workers.

On the face of it, PTI’s TikTok works like a well-oiled machine. The 144 videos were posted over a period of five days — almost 29 videos per day on average.

Given that most of them needed to be pieced together and edited for music and graphics, it appeared to be the work of a dedicated team of social media specialists. The PML-N’s 100 videos spanned over 82 days — from January 1 to March 25 — at an average of 1.2 videos per day.

The art of narrative-building

Niloufer Siddiqui explains that in the political context, a narrative is an idea of a political party’s ideology and what it stands for. ‘Narrative-building’ is a buzzword in politics these days as political parties want to take the lead in setting the discourse. For Ms Siddiqui, who teaches political science at the University of Albany, PTI is clear in what its narrative is. “It stands as anti-corruption, anti-status quo and anti-elite.”

Our analysis showed that PTI used TikTok to effectively take the lead in setting the narrative. Across the five days, the account consistently posted videos showing how authorities “targeted” the party’s workers. Of the 31 videos posted on March 8, 10 accused the police of torturing, tear gassing and killing a party worker.

Out of the 77 videos posted between March 14 and 16, a total of 18 were about the alleged torture of PTI workers, teargassing at Mr Khan’s house, police’s attempt to breach the Zaman Park’s door, and claims about the use of chemicals in water cannons and expired tear gas canisters. On March 18, the account posted 34 videos, of which 10 accused the government and security agencies of torturing and teargassing PTI workers and conducting an “illegal” search operation at Zaman Park.

TikTok: The new frontier for political info-wars

https://www.dawn.com/news/1754935


The PMLN apparently failed to counter this narrative on the three dates. In fact, only two videos were posted on the party’s official account between March 10 to March 24. They both featured Maryam Nawaz Sharif.

The analysis showed that the PTI used TikTok as an effective tool to mobilise its workers and demonstrate ‘public support’ for its chairman. In 22 of the analysed videos, PTI leaders directly addressed the workers and urged them to reach Zaman Park.

These were in addition to the use of hashtag #ZamanParkPohancho** in the description of the analysed videos. Till April 7, the videos under the said hashtag — not all of them posted by the official PTI account — had over 242m views. There were also 41 videos on the apparent ‘public support’ for Mr Khan, showing the crowd gathered outside Zaman Park and during his court appearance.

For Ms Siddiqui, a big reason for the clarity in PTI’s messaging is Mr Khan being the party’s face. “The fact is that whatever Imran Khan says becomes what PTI says. So, the PTI and Imran Khan are really synonymous.”

This contrasts with the PML-N, whose narrative, like the house of Sharifs, appears to be divided between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Ms Nawaz. Of the 100 analysed videos, the narrative of 40 videos centred around PM Shehbaz. These were clips of his meeting, interviews, media talks and governance. Ms Sharif was the focus of 23 videos. Most of these videos were her addresses, rallies, and ‘public support’.

The PML-N strategy witnessed an apparent shift after January 28 — the day Ms Sharif returned to Pakistan. All but one of the 23 videos featuring Ms Sharif were posted after this date. Before the PML-N leader’s return, the party’s narrative was focused on PM Shehbaz’s governance. Out of the 40, 33 videos featuring the prime minister were posted before this date.

The ‘Imran factor’

The analysis showed that the PTI is clear in its approach: centre the entire narrative around Chairman Imran Khan — his popularity, supporters’ willingness to “sacrifice their lives for him”, his “fight for people’s rights”, and him being a “one-man army against the state’s oppression”.

Of the 144 videos analysed, the narrative in 62 centred around Mr Khan, ranging from the conspiracy to kill him, reasons for his attempted arrest, the gag on his speeches, the cases against him, etc. In 36 out of 144 videos, Mr Khan was the sole appearance. These were clips of his speeches and his messages to PTI supporters.

This ‘Imran-centric’ content did yield results for PTI. Nine of the 14 videos on PTI’s account that crossed over a million views featured Mr Khan. Not only for his party, but the PTI chairman also fetched eyeballs for the rival PML-N. Of the ten most-viewed videos on the PML-N’s account during the period in consideration, four were directly critical of Mr Khan.

‘The voter is changing’

While political campaigns run on Pakistani social media leave a lot to be desired, the presence of the two biggest political parties on TikTok indicates an effort to reach out to voters where they’re concentrated. In surveys conducted by Asfandyar Mir and Niloufer Siddiqui to understand what platforms people use to access news and determine its trustworthiness, the numbers were 58pc for Facebook, 63pc WhatsApp, 47pc YouTube, 17pc Twitter and 30pc TikTok.

This change is not limited to how people consume news; it has a wider implication for Pakistan’s political landscape. “The voter is changing,” Ms Siddiqui said while explaining this trend.

While political parties with inherently weak organisational systems have relied on electables and patronage to attract votes, things have started to change. “Social media and urbanisation, severing feudal and biradri ties are changing party affiliations.”

TikTok: The new frontier for political info-wars

https://www.dawn.com/news/1754935


And the PTI has capitalised on this.

Ms Siddiqui said the PTI also relied on electables, but it simultaneously managed to capture people’s attention with its anti-status quo and anti-corruption narrative. “The PML-N and PPP, the other two major parties, failed to catch up. They are still stuck in electable maths.”

This was helped by PTI’s openness to exploring new platforms to amplify its message. As Mr Ahad explained, the party has always been more conducive to experimenting with social media, while their rivals fear the backlash their leaders might receive on these places.

“The PTI has been dominating the narrative so much, and for so long, other parties are apprehensive in countering it,” he said.

*The number of likes, shares, comments and views are approximation as TikTok rounds off the figure after it reaches five digits

**All hashtags originally in Urdu script have been rewritten in Roman Urdu.

This story has been done in collaboration with Media Matters for Democracy.

M.
@amoizmalik
While all, or may be the most, attention is still focused on Twitter, TikTok has silently become a new platfrom for political narrative warfare in Pakistan. In this longform story, I looked at the platform to see how it has turned into a battleground for

https://twitter.com/amoizmalik/status/1660552521105162240?s=20


M.
@amoizmalik
narrative warfare. Talk about the presence of political parties on the platfrom, only two --PTI and PML-N-- have an official account on the platform. Like every other platfrom, PTI is a juggernaut on the platfrom. It has three million followers



M.
@amoizmalik
compared to just 43.4K of PML-N. The average engagment shows how big, and orgnanised, PTI is on the platfrom. Till April, PTI on avg posted 29 videos per day, had over 67K avg like, 685 comments and 750 shares. In comparision, PML-N posted 1.2 videso daily on avg,


M.
@amoizmalik
with 1,192 likes, 48 comments and 22 likes. NOWHERE NEAR PTI.
As is the story on other platfroms, PTI is miles ahead in terms of how it uses TikTok to annihilate its rivals' messaging. Take the example of May 9. IK was arrested, violent protests broke out and the govt has

M.
@amoizmalik
shut Twitter. The governemnt would have thought it managed to blunt PTI's most potent weapon. But, they left one flank unguarded; TikTok. What PTI does? It takes its entire messaging game to TikTok. It went full throttle on the platfrom, putting out on avg



M.
@amoizmalik
41 videos per day between May 9 to 12. In comparision, it only posted 14 videos per day on avg from May 1 to May 8. During the time of IK's arrests, the engagement on PTI's TikTok account rose to insane levels. Check the graphs for comparision from a week ago.


M.
@amoizmalik
Over 618K avg views, over 378K avg likes, over 1,100 comments and 1,500 shares -- all numbers doubled compared to last week. So did PTI lose anything while Twitter was down? They, by all means, outsmarted the government's move.


M.
@amoizmalik
The story looks at this and compared several other activities on PTI's and PML-N's official TikTok accounts. How they post videos, how they use hashtag, what is the narrative, etc. It shows the PTI works on the TikTok like a well oiled machine, somethin PML-N clearly lacks.


M.
@amoizmalik
For this story, I talked to
@NiloSiddiqui
,
@tabinda_m
,
@talhaahad
. Their comments and input was invaluable. Also, this months-long work wouldn't have been possible without the generous support from
@asadbeyg
and his team
@mmfd_Pak

Laying the digital foundations for a brighter future

https://dailytimes.com.pk/1095721/laying-the-digital-foundations-fo...


by Khurram Sultan


The Government of Pakistan has launched the Smart Village Pakistan project with the support of Huawei to overcome the extreme disparity between the urban and rural development indicators. The Smart Village project aims to achieve digital transformation in remote rural areas by closing the gap in access to technology and services between urban and rural areas – a transformation that is made possible through Huawei’s expertise and expansion of wireless broadband network coverage.

The first village to experience the digital transformation is the Gokina Smart Village, a small hamlet near Islamabad. There, Huawei provides cutting edge technical solutions to connect the unconnected, allowing partners in education and health to serve the previously underserved community.

The Smart Village Pakistan project aims to digitally transform remote and rural communities by connecting them and empowering the citizens with better access to a range of digital services that can meaningfully improve their wellbeing and livelihoods in accordance with the government’s vision of Digital Pakistan. Reduced inequality will lead to improved well-being and access to better jobs through digital services. This approach involves a new design and implementation framework that is demand-driven, user-centric, flexible, and is focused on sustainability, scalability, and multi-sector collaboration.

Huawei continues to be the leader in Pakistan in expanding outreach in rural areas under the broader Huawei TECH4ALL commitment to enable an inclusive and sustainable digital world. Aligned with the UN SDGs and Huawei’s vision and mission, TECH4ALL is a long-term digital inclusion initiative and action plan to innovating technologies and solutions that make the world a more inclusive and sustainable space for all.

Approximately half the world population is digitally connected while the other half is not, a division that has implications that became glaring apparent during the global pandemic when digital networks and access to the internet meant continued access to fundamental rights and critical services like health and education.

TeleTaleem is a social enterprise focused on enhancing quality of education services at the grassroots level, through innovative use of technology. While TeleTaleem has reached a good mix of users in urban and rural settings – reaching out to 60 different districts across all four provinces and the AJK, covering 4,000+ schools and directly impacting skillset of more than 6,000 teachers and 1,000,000+ children, one of its proudest accomplishments is the recent partnership with Huawei and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the Smart Village Program.

Upon visiting the school in Gokina, TeleTaleem discovered a pressing need for science teachers, particularly for students in grades 8, 9, and 10. Specializing in the design and delivery of e-learning systems and services, using a variety of delivery mechanisms and blended learning platforms, TeleTaleem has implemented multiple interventions, covering a broad spectrum of primary to secondary school systems, teacher education and training institutions in both public and private sectors.

The solution for Gokina was TeleTaleem’s Online Teaching Model, which provides the school with two digital classrooms equipped with internet connectivity from Jazz and power backup systems. Through this setup, the school was connected with specialist science teachers based at TeleTaleem. Now, the students in Gokina are benefitting from daily science classes, including subjects like chemistry and biology, along with regular assessments of their learning activities.

Laying the digital foundations for a brighter future

https://dailytimes.com.pk/1095721/laying-the-digital-foundations-fo...


by Khurram Sultan



This initiative aims to bring quality education to remote rural areas, and the foundation of innovative, tech-based solutions are digital connectivity. The Smart Village project aligns with the TeleTaleem vision to provide quality education where it is needed the most under our “Education without Boundaries” approach.


The project has received an overwhelmingly positive response from both students and teachers. The school head has been incredibly cooperative and supportive throughout the implementation of these activities. The Federal Directorate of Education, responsible for the school, and the Ministry of Federal Education & Professional Training have expressed their great appreciation for the efforts of TeleTaleem, Huawei, and ITU in selecting Gokina School as a pilot site under the Smart Village program.

While the challenges of infrastructure are real, the opportunities are immense. In Pakistan, the young, underserved population spread across vast rural tracts is the ideal target and ultimate beneficiary of enhanced digitalization and increased usage of telecom services.

Around 37% of employment in Pakistan is in agricultural, forestry, or the fishery sector and COVID-19 has disrupted conventional business operations and led to closure of many traditional markets. Not only so, but 13% of the youth from these areas do not enroll in secondary school, and only 15% of households have access to a computer at home for e-learning. The literacy rate of female youth (ages 15-24) is more than 14 percent lower than male youth literacy rate. Additionally, the employment rate is around 11% higher for women than it is for men. With access to connectivity and ICT, the Smart Village Project looks to tackle all of these issues.


Inclusive digital transformation can be a crucial enabler for rural development and with Huawei laying the foundations for social enterprises and service providers to reach the unserved, the future is bright.

The author is the Director Program at TeleTaleem, a social enterprise delivering innovative solutions for improved educational services at the grassroot level.

Pakistan’s ‘largest’ OTT platform streams original content from Hollywood, other studios

https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2273296/pakistan


Titled SHOQ, the streaming app allows registration of up to five devices with two concurrent sessions
Pakistani Internet users can opt from various packages ranging from Rs8 per day to Rs120-299 a month
KARACHI: Pakistan’s “largest” Over-The-Top platform, SHOQ, offers an interesting lineup of original local and international shows, a Pakistani telecom official said, describing the platform as the country’s “ultimate entertainment solution.”

SHOQ is a subscription-based streaming app that works on the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) model and PTCL-provided TV dongles, enabling users to avail multi-screen services from any place, anytime through smartphones, tablets, laptops, Android Smart TVs and Android TV Boxes.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), a subsidiary of e& that was formerly known as the Etisalat Group, officially launched the platform in late January, aiming to provide a “superior” and “immersive” viewing experience to all data users in Pakistan.

SHOQ allows registration of up to five devices with two concurrent sessions at a time. It is available for all Pakistani data users on “customer-friendly” daily, weekly, and monthly bases, according to Pasha. Customers can opt from various packages ranging from Rs8 per day to Rs120-299 a month.

“We have original content with rights from Hollywood studios like Warner, Sony, etc. The content ranges from blockbuster movies to highly rated and acclaimed series,” Amir Pasha, a PTCL group director, told Arab News on Tuesday.

“We believe that SHOQ has what it takes to be the country’s ultimate entertainment solution.”

Pasha said they believed a high-quality local OTT entertainment service was much needed that was not only affordable but also customized to local tastes and preferences, given the increasing Internet penetration in Pakistan.

While the platform does not offer Indian content, the official said it did have a wide range of local and international content that was liked by the subscribers.

“Content acquisition is a continuous process to add value to the platform and for customer retention. We will continue R&D (research and development) and will bring in more content that matches the customer requirements and entertainment needs,” Pasha said.

“We are focusing on local content in addition to international content that will allow SHOQ to gain more market [share]. SHOQ penetration is on the positive growth trajectory and we believe it will take some time to strengthen our footprint across the country.”

SHOQ also hosts one hundred most-watched local and international live TV channels, Pakistani movies and originals to cater to the entertainment needs of the entire family, according to a PTCL statement.

“We are pleased to support the development of Pakistan’s largest OTT platform, powered by PTCL,” Khalifa Al-Shamsi, the CEO of e& life, said at the launch of SHOQ in January.

“We are confident that this new service will add great value to the people of Pakistan. e& will continue to support the PTCL Group, especially in its new chapter of creating a digital future that empowers every person in society to create innovative digital services and tap into new customer segments, building success upon success.”

USF Approves Rs. 21 Billion for New Optical Fiber and Broadband Projects


https://propakistani.pk/2022/09/25/usf-approves-rs-21-billion-for-n...


The Universal Service Fund (USF) Board has approved the award of 10 contracts worth approximately Rs. 21 billion for the unserved and under-served communities of Baluchistan, Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).


The high-speed mobile broadband projects, highways and motorways projects, and optical fiber cable projects will provide 4G LTE connectivity and backhaul connectivity to around 3.5 million people by connecting 187 Union Councils (UCs) with 1,554 kilometers (kms) of optical fiber cable and provide seamless connectivity to 622 km of unserved road segments on M-8 motorway and N-35 highway.


Additional Secretary (Incharge) IT & Telecommunication and Chairman USF Board Mohsin Mushtaq Chandna chaired the 83rd Board of Directors meeting of USF on Thursday.


While addressing the meeting, Chandna said that USF has delivered a record productive performance in the past 4 years by contracting 79 projects worth approximately Rs. 62.7 billion in subsidy. This is a testament to our absolute commitment to improving the lives and livelihoods of the unserved and underserved communities of Pakistan.

He also highlighted the importance of infrastructure, affordability, and accessibility of the internet and pledged to work with all stakeholders to achieve the vision of Digital Pakistan.

USF Chief Executive Officer Haaris Mahmood Chaudhary apprised the Board members of the progress of the current projects and the restoration of the flood-affected USF network. He said that these projects will empower around 3.3 million people living in far-flung and backward areas across Pakistan, enabling them to access e-services across various spheres, ranging from financial services like banking and loans to accessibility towards various government services and benefits.


According to the details, the Board approved the award of 5 high-speed mobile broadband contracts worth approximately Rs. 7.1 billion for providing 4G LTE services in the rural and remote districts of Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan. These projects will benefit people living in 262 unserved muazas of Dera Ghazi Khan, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, Multan, and Rajanpur districts in Punjab, Jamshoro in Sindh, and Barkhan, Musakhel, Sherani, and Sibi in Balochistan covering an approximate unserved area of 12,784.91 sq. km.

Furthermore, the Board also approved the award of two high-speed mobile broadband projects for National Highways and Motorways worth Rs. 6 billion for providing 4G LTE services to commuters on unserved road segments of 622.68 km on M-8 motorway and N-35 highway respectively.

Similarly, the USF Board also approved the award of three optical fiber cable projects worth approximately Rs. 7.7 billion for providing backhaul connectivity to 187 Union Councils (UCs) of Punjab and KP. Under these projects, USF will deploy a total of 1,554 km of optical fiber cable that will benefit over 3.3 million people in the districts of Attock, Sheikhupura, and Nankana Sahib in Punjab and Bannu and Lakki Marwat in KP. These projects are designed to connect 684 educational institutions, 223 government offices, and 268 health institutions along with mandatory connectivity of 408 BTS towers.

Public cloud services on the rise in Pakistan
Cloud computing market in country expected to reach $1.5b this year

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2406357/public-cloud-services-on-the-r...

According to a report of IDC, public cloud spending in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.5% from 2019 to 2024, reaching $124.5 billion in 2024.

Another report of Gartner suggests that the public cloud services market in the Asia-Pacific region will grow by 23.7% in 2021 and reach $124.6 billion, up from $100.8 billion in 2020.

In Pakistan, the adoption of public cloud services is also on the rise. Allied Market Research, in its report, says the cloud computing market in Pakistan is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 19.1% from 2017 to 2023.

“These numbers highlight the increasing importance of public cloud for businesses in Asia and Pakistan, as they embrace digital transformation and seek to leverage the benefits of cloud computing to enhance their competitiveness and drive growth,” remarked Azam.

Cloud computing provides organistions with the ability to rapidly scale resources up or down, as needed, allowing them to handle changes in demand more effectively.

According to an IDC study, organisations that use cloud computing are able to handle 2.5 times more application workloads than those that rely on the traditional IT infrastructure.

Talking about the security of public cloud, Azam cited a Forrester Research report which said that 80% of security breaches involving the public cloud infrastructure are caused by customer misconfiguration or mistakes.

“This shows that while cloud providers have strong security measures in place, organisations also have a responsibility to ensure their data is secure in the cloud,” he added.

Overall, the importance of public cloud services for businesses in Asia and Pakistan cannot be overstated, as it provides them with the ability to innovate, collaborate, and scale with ease, while reducing costs and improving security and reliability.

“Public cloud offers a pay-as-you-go model and the ability to scale resources up or down, as needed, which makes it easier for organisations to handle fluctuating workloads without having to invest in additional hardware or infrastructure. In contrast, private cloud requires organisations to invest in and maintain their own infrastructure which can be costly. Private cloud offers more control over data and infrastructure, which can be beneficial for organisations with strict security requirements.”

NADRA launches Nishan Pakistan platform, lets startups leverage digital identity stack | Biometric Update


https://www.biometricupdate.com/202305/nadra-launches-nishan-pakist...

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has launched the Beta version of Nishan Pakistan, a platform to enable small and medium sized businesses in the country make the most of its digital ID stack.

NADRA Chairman Tariq Malik said in a tweet that Nishan Pakistan is a game-changer platform designed to empower commercial startups and young entrepreneurs with secure and contactless biometric verification through secure data sharing with NADRA.

He said the platform, which offers a world of endless possibilities and a plethora of use cases for businesses including customer identification through biometrics, is the first of its kind online, secure and open digital identity authentication platform in the country.

Malik added that the platform offers an API gateway and a cutting-edge sandbox that enables a smooth integration with other systems and will provide a set of services that will help businesses with “a seamless, consistent and connected experience,” and also contribute to ongoing efforts of making Pakistan a truly digital nation.

The official said in another message that the novelty will set the stage for the kind of market-creating innovation that ignites “the economic engine of a country, creates jobs and augments profits that fund public services and promote change culture in the society.”

Nishan Pakistan has been rolled out for user acceptance testing and NADRA is looking out for feedback to improve the functionality of the platform and also help in its plans of creating a strong digital ID system.

Subscriptions to the platform are opened and interested businesses can submit applications and wait for the approval process to be completed in 10-15 days, according to a promotional video.

In April, NADRA announced the market launch of the automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS)) it developed domestically.

Pakistani official praises innovation as UAE-based bank opens country’s first ‘digital lifestyle branch’

https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2315156/pakistan


Launched by Bank Alfalah, the branch seeks to provide unique digital experience and meet customers’ financial needs

Among other facilities, the branch will also provide biometrically secured digital lockers that will remain available 24/7


The top central bank official in Pakistan has praised the country’s financial sector for making technological upgrades after a private commercial bank inaugurated its first “digital lifestyle branch” in the southern Karachi port city to improve the overall customer experience and reduce the brick-and-mortar footprint earlier this week.

Launched by Bank Alfalah, a Pakistani subsidiary of a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the initiative seeks to provide a unique digital experience and meet the lifestyle and financial needs of customers.

According to the bank, the state-of-the-art branch will offer a 24/7 digital self-service banking area comprising a virtual self-service machine (VSM), biometrically secured digital lockers, cash-deposit machines (CDMs), auto-teller machines (ATMs), and tech-gadget machines along with round-the-clock Wi-Fi access, among other facilities.

The branch was launched in Karachi by Pakistan’s top central bank official on June 1.

“Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Mr. Jameel Ahmad has said that Pakistan’s banking industry was investing in technological upgrades to facilitate its customers and improve their overall banking experience,” said a statement circulated by the bank.

“He was optimistic that exciting projects like Bank Alfalah’s first digital lifestyle branch will unlock new opportunities, making banking easier to access and leading to a more financially inclusive and digitally empowered nation.”

According to the statement, Ahmad said that digitalization would entail a reduction in the brick-and-mortar footprint of the banking industry globally, adding that Pakistan was no exception.

“The governor of SBP was confident that the successful implementation of this model will show the way forward to the new entrants of the banking industry in Pakistan. In his concluding remarks, he stressed the need for a proactive approach by the banking industry in tailoring customers’ products and services based on their specific preferences and changing behavior,” it added.

The top SBP official further maintained that customers’ fair treatment and protection should be a top priority of banks.

The virtual self-service machine will allow customers to instantly open accounts, receive debit cards swiftly, and get statements printed by a video teller immediately after a transaction, the bank said.

The facility will also provide “easy-to-use and biometrically secured digital lockers” which will be accessible to customers at any time of the day or night without any staff interaction.

Bank Alfalah witnessed an exponential growth of over 95 percent in digital banking transactions with an annualized volume of over Rs3.5 trillion. The bank’s record further reveals that 77 percent of new-to-bank (NTB) account holders prefer digital transactions over conventional methods.

Over 75 percent of the bank’s transactions are now online, and 70 percent of bank accounts are opened via digital channels.

Super Fast Gigabit Fiber Internet is Coming to 11 Cities in Pakistan Soon

https://propakistani.pk/2023/06/07/super-fast-gigabit-fiber-interne...

Pakistan is about to get ultra-fast gigabit fiber internet in eleven cities soon, as per government documents available with ProPakistani.

This document highlights the Public Sector Development Project (PDSP) budget during the period of 2022-2024. It includes a summary of current ongoing projects, future projects, and more under the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives.

Under the Information Technology and Telecom Division, it highlights a new scheme for a project that will expand Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services to eleven cities.

In simpler words, super fast gigabit internet is coming to more cities soon, as mentioned earlier. The project’s approval status is still “under process”, so it will probably be a while before it sees the light of day.

The government has approved a cost of Rs. 800 million and there is no foreign aid on this particular project. An additional Rs. 50 million will be allocated to this project during the course of 2023-2024.

Other Development Projects
The IT section of the document also highlights dozens of other projects the govt is working on at the moment, such as 4 more knowledge parks, a technology park development project, an online recruitment system for FPSC, smart offices for Federal Ministries and Departments, expansion of broadband services in Kashmir and Gilgit, and much more.

List of Best Internet Service Provider in Pakistan

https://www.unitedsol.net/best-internet-service-providers-in-pakistan/

1. PTCL
PTCL is the major ISP in Pakistan where an extensive network of customers across the country and agreements with other ISPs to serve commercial and household consumers. It was a government-owned institution until it was privatized in 2006. It is also the top telecommunication company in the country; PTCL has made the internet accessible to almost every part of the country. PTCL offers several internet packages for customers to avail that are distinguished by speed such as 20mbps, 30mbps, 50mbps, 100mbps, and even 250mbps.

2. OPTIX
A name that is regarded the most in supersonic internet speed for home users is OPTIX. It provides one of the best internet services in Pakistan. The company realizes the significance of the best quality internet to residential consumers that’s why they ensure superfast speed and uninterrupted connectivity. If we come to compare it with other service providers, we can say OPTIX and Nayatel both are leading the space with their selfless support. The company claims to offer unmatched voice quality that may make you feel the person is sitting next to you. the variety of plans helps you to choose a package for the sole purpose of the internet like 2mbps, 4mbps, 10mbps, or up to 100mbps;

3. Connect Communication


4. FIBERLINK
Fiberlink is another reliable name in the ISP sphere of Pakistan. It has been offering fiber optic services in the leading cities of the country including Lahore, Karachi, Hyderabad, and Faisalabad. The company is proud of bringing the fastest internet connectivity and stability to its home and corporate consumers. Their claim to have the best internet services in Pakistan can be evaluated by the fact that their plans offer to speed up to 200mbps which is hard for any company to provide. One can have any package between 12mbps, 20mbps, 40mbps, 100mbps, 150mbps, or 200 Mbps.

5. Stormfiber
Among the top contenders for best internet in Pakistan, Stormfiber leads the list for its seamless internet and television services to its residential consumers. It is backed by CyberNet, which is a leading brand among the internet service providers in the corporate sector. Using the reliable internet by CyberNet, Stormfiber is eager to provide reliable and stable internet connectivity to home users. The packages you can select from include 10mbps, 20mbps, 30mbps, and other options with higher bandwidths.

6. NAYATEL
Nayatel was among the few internet services in Pakistan that introduced FTTH – Fiber to the house – to ensure that home and business consumers enjoy fast internet connections.

7. COMSATS Internet Services


8. Wateen
Among all the Pakistan internet companies, Wateen rose to fame in a short period. It has launched internet services in Pakistan with fiber optic and WiMax technology that do not require the conventional installation of wires and heavy equipment. It started outstanding services in major cities and soon expanded nationwide.

9. QUBEE
Being launched in 2007, Qubee was among the few telecom companies that introduced WiMax technology. It is an amazing technology that provides absolute internet connectivity without the need to use a wire. It offered services in four main cities including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi.

10. WorldCall
Worldcall was once highly recognized for its internet services. It has a repute in cable broadband internet ervices. WorldCall came as a reliable solution for users who had to use PTCL phone lines to connect to the users. They would either have to use the internet or telephone services at a time. WorldCall brought an innovative solution of getting cable connections without engaging landlines. It was performing well in the major cities of Pakistan but is now limited to Karachi and Lahore only. They have affordable plans that start with 2mbps, 4mbps, 6mbps, 8mbps, and 10mbps. They do have digital TV and Cable TV solutions for home users and corporate entities.

Pakistan's University of Turbat gets new data center
Balochistan Governor emphasizes importance of technology for the region

https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/pakistans-university-of-...

The University of Turbat (UoT) in Balochistan, Pakistan, has launched a new data center.

1_ac101b9b-492d-45c5-99fe-6b02afd1f426.png

– University of Turbat
The completion of the first phase was inaugurated by Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar, as well as phase one of the 1MW solar project at the university. Details surrounding the data center's capacity have not been shared. DCD has reached out for more information.

At the inauguration, Kakar said that the public sector universities in Balochistan must generate their own resources and become financially self-sufficient, they will struggle to continue in the coming years. He also noted the importance of “creating harmony with modern science and technology.”

Kakar further said that additional measures would be taken to “improve the quality of education in higher education institutions and promote research activities.”

UoT is connected to PERN 2 (Pakistan Education & Research Network) which provides organizations with access to Internet services, an intranet, a National Digital Library, VoIP, and local content hosting in the cloud.

According to Data Center Map, Pakistan’s data center market is primarily located in Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. In August of last year, Pakistan experienced nationwide outages after flooding damaged cables.

Norwegian Telco Telenor has been trying to get out of the Pakistani market for months. In November 2022, it announced it was looking at a $1 billion exit from the country, with PTCL looking to make an offer in February.

Technology is transforming governance in Pakistan
IRUM TOUQEERCLELIA RONTOYANNI|APRIL 02, 2019

https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/technology-transf...


Technology is changing our world faster than ever before.

And Pakistan, home to more than 64 million internet users and 62 million people connected to mobile data, is no exception.

As they’ve become more digital-savvy, Pakistanis are now expecting better digital services from their government.

To meet these demands, the Government of Punjab has been working to modernize over the last decade .

As part of the government’s governance reforms, and learning from earlier pilot programs in education and health, the Punjab Public Management Reform Program (PPMRP) has aimed to transform citizens’ experience, improve access to administrative services, and boost public employee performance and the management of public resources.

Before that, Punjab authorities were facing several challenges in delivering public services. This, in turn, impacted social outcomes in the province: the health sector’ performance was affected by the absenteeism of vaccinators, resulting in a low immunization rate in Punjab (49% in 2014).

The education and agriculture departments faced similar absenteeism issues with teachers, students, and agriculture workers in the field.

Overall, citizens were dissatisfied with these public services.

A more transparent access to public services

Under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act 2013, the Government of Punjab has become more open and accountable through technology solutions .

Citizens now have easy access to information about institutions, policies, procedures, and investment projects available on the websites of 84 provincial public entities , including government administrative departments, attached bodies, hospitals, and universities.

Citizens can also enquire about processes and procedures of selected services through a 24/7 Citizens’ Contact Center established in Lahore.

The number of inquiry and feedback calls increased from 50,000 calls received in 2013 to 2.9 million in 2018 . Province-wide, 161 citizens’ facilitation centers have been set up to provide selected services under one roof and closer to the citizens – promoting social accountability in Pakistan’s largest province.

PPMRP also helped expedite the online provision (application and processing) of other government services, such as registering a vehicle, paying for stamps, collecting agriculture subsidies, and applying for a government job and college admissions.

Technology is transforming governance in Pakistan
IRUM TOUQEERCLELIA RONTOYANNI|APRIL 02, 2019

https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/technology-transf...


Smart management to improve staff performance

The PPMRP also developed smart management tools to help some government departments improve their staff performance and overall user experience .

For example, smartphone applications and central dashboards helped track and analyze daily more efficiently the activities of hundreds of field workers in the health, agriculture and education departments.

Combined with users’ feedback, this data helped identify low performing areas and take remedial measures.

In the health field, E-VACCS has been instrumental in tackling absenteeism of field vaccinators by locating their daily activity routes (and activities), thereby enabling the management of Health Department to check whether children in remote areas had received their vaccinations.

As a result, immunization coverage marked a rise from 49 percent in 2014 to 84 percent in 2017 .

Similar tools have helped assess staff performance in schools and the agriculture sector and, when applicable, informed remedial actions for improvement.

Digitizing tax collection

The PPMRP also supported technology solutions to collect taxes better, thus expanding the tax base and improving transparency.

For example, old manual cadasters of urban properties have been digitized and geo-mapped in all 36 districts of Punjab, adding more than 1 million new properties to the tax base.

This system helped issue digital tax invoices and provide an online tax calculator and online property title verification system. Citizens can also now access detailed information about transactions and when their payments are due.

As a result, the urban property tax receipts in Punjab have increased by 115 percent since 2013 .

Together, these promising initiatives and reforms have changed the governance landscape in Punjab and brought government services a step closer to citizens.

PPMRP’s key implementing agencies include Punjab Planning and Development Board; Punjab Excise, Taxation and Narcotics Control Department; Punjab Public Procurement Regulatory Authority; Punjab Information Technology Board, and Punjab Reform Management Program, while there were several beneficiary departments of the Government of Punjab (for details, see PPMRP).

Chinese firm starts to lay 16,000-km-long fibre-optic cable in Pakistan


https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1072079-chinese-firm-starts-to-lay...

This was stated by Tony Lee, Chief Executive Officer of Sunwalk Pvt Limited, during a ceremony held in Islamabad. This Chinese company had already invested $5 million in Pakistan, and now planning to invest $100 million for laying optical fiber in other parts after getting Right of Way (ROW) from different public sector departments.

Tony Lee said Sunwalk is focusing on fast deployment and concentrating on quality according to the ITU-T Standards. “We are always committed to the best services in Pakistan”, he said.

Two months ago, Sunwalk Group Chairman Hou Xing Wang told Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Aminul Haque in a meeting Sunwalk Group will soon start laying fiber cable across the country with substantial investment.

According to an official statement about the project, Ms Afshaan Malik, Chief Business Officer of Sunwalk Group Pakistan, said keeping in view Pak-China long-term strategic relationships, Sunwalk has fulfilled its promise by initiating the national fiber backbone project. Sunwalk is committed to providing optic cable to the people of Pakistan, she said.

In this connection, groundbreaking of Phase-1 (Islamabad to Multan) to provide nationwide fiber backbone was done on Thursday. Afshaan further said Sunwalk is in the process of getting ROW from government departments. After getting that $100 million will be invested, she said.

Pakistan’s digital dynamo: Arslan Sadiq’s journey of creating a web of social impact

Read more: https://www.digitaljournal.com/business/pakistans-digital-dynamo-ar...

ByJon Stojan PublishedJune 29, 2023

Opinions expressed by Digital Journal contributors are their own.

In today’s digital age, the internet emerged as a disruptive force, irreversibly transforming how societies interact, transact, and evolve. It has become a global town square, a market, a classroom, and a platform for innovation and change. While many have leveraged the power of the digital world for personal or commercial success, others have ventured to harness this force for broader societal change. This is the tale of Arslan Sadiq, a Pakistani entrepreneur who uses the internet as a catalyst, not just to propel his own entrepreneurial journey but to drive profound social impact across Pakistan.

Arslan, an early tech adopter, saw the internet’s potential from the get-go. Beginning his journey in the digital marketing space, Arslan demonstrated exceptional acumen for the field and quickly rose through the ranks. His determination and innovative thinking led him to establish the Global Hosting Service, a leading provider of domain registration and dedicated servers, along with services in VPS, hosting resellers, shared hosting, and SEO hosting. The brand also ventured into web and software development, SMS/email, and social media marketing services, proving itself as a comprehensive solution in the digital arena. Today, the company stands tall as a Gold Channel Partner of the .PK registry and is globally recognized as the top seller of .pk domains.

As he ascended the ranks of digital influence, Arslan quickly evolved from an entrepreneur into an influencer. That’s when he discovered the immense potential of the digital world as a platform for advocacy. His transformative vision propelled him into leadership roles within more than 150 youth organizations across Pakistan, culminating in the creation of Pakistan Youth Activism. In addition to his role as CEO, Arslan serves as the Editor-in-chief of The Post Pakistan, using journalism to shed light on vital issues. His prowess in the digital sphere also led him to become a Digital Media Consultant for top-tier businesses such as Green Entertainment TV, Imarat Group, and Agency 21 International.

Beyond the corporate realm, Arslan extends his sphere of influence into other areas of social transformation. He is also the founder of Pakistan’s largest IT Group and bloggers group, assembling diverse communities into a potent force for change. His digital footprint continues to grow as he manages a vast network of pages, groups, and forums, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose among millions of followers.

Arslan’s work has always been underpinned by a profound commitment to social advocacy. This commitment finds expression in his various roles, including Patron in Chief of the Global Youth Association and Chairman of the Advisory Council of Volunteer Force Pakistan. He’s also stepped into the medical field as the Social Media Head of the Young Doctors Association, representing the voice of the healthcare sector.

With over 10 million followers on various social media platforms, Arslan’s digital influence is unquestionable. However, it’s the ability to use this influence to drive change that truly sets him apart. His efforts have demonstrated that the digital world can be more than a market or a forum—it can be a powerful tool for driving social transformation and creating lasting impact. In short, Arslan Sadiq is not just an entrepreneur or a digital influencer; he is a digital dynamo, tirelessly spinning a web of social impact across Pakistan.

The newly launched People’s Bus Service in Karachi now allows residents to track buses in real time using a smartphone app.

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-karachi-residents...

The Sindh government introduced the app for iPhone and Android users, offering information on bus fares, timings, and other essential details.

It also enables real-time monitoring of the bus service.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon stated that the People’s Bus Service aims to provide comfortable commuting facilities to urban residents.

Additionally, the government has introduced electric and Pink bus services specifically for women passengers.

The People’s Bus Service has been expanded to seven cities within a year, with the Sindh government subsidizing millions of rupees monthly for affordable and uninterrupted mass transportation.

The government’s priorities include modernising mass transit services, such as the environmentally-friendly biogas-fuelled Red Line section of the Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) in Karachi.

A total of Rs 200 billion will be invested in constructing the Red Line and Yellow Line sections of the BRTS.

Aatif Awan
@aatif_awan
1/ Starting from Pakistan's heartland & now expanding to the world's farm (Brazil), what a journey it's been for the
@FarmdarOfficial
team. Congrats to them on launching AgromAI, a fintech venture in Brazil that leverages AI & geospatial data to create agri financial solutions

https://twitter.com/aatif_awan/status/1676570789913542657?s=20

-----------------


Aatif Awan
@aatif_awan
2/ Think insurers having highly accurate, individual farm-level intelligence to underwrite crop insurance. Imagine banks using the same information to provide credit to farmers. At $170+ billion, Brazil is one of the top agri markets. Crop insurance alone is at ~ $2B annually


-------------


Aatif Awan
@aatif_awan
3/ What's amazing is that the tech is built in Pakistan by Pakistani product and engineering talent. And it's finding traction in one of the largest markets for agritech


------------------


Aatif Awan
@aatif_awan
4/ Really proud of the Farmdar founders
@MBukhari80
,
@MujiManghi
, Ibrahim Akbar Bokhari and the entire Farmdar team on this huge milestone. Congrats team!

We hope this will inspire many other "Made in Pakistan, For the World" products

-----------

Pakistan’s Farmdar Has Just Launched a New FinTech Startup in Brazil

https://www.techjuice.pk/pakistans-farmdar-has-just-launched-a-new-...

https://twitter.com/FarmdarOfficial/status/1676487324614402050?s=20

Named ‘AgromAI’, Farmdar’s fintech startup in Brazil will use artificial intelligence (AI) and geospatial data to provide financial services
Pakistan based agri-tech startup ‘Farmdar’ has just announced the launch of its new fintech venture. What’s unique about this new expansion is the fact that it is based in Brazil; a new industry in a new country, sounds exciting right?

Named ‘AgromAI’, Farmdar’s new fintech startup will utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and geospatial data in order to provide financial services, but how would it do so?

Well, according to Farmdar co-founder and CEO Muzaffar Manghi, Latin America is going through a severe climate change, therefore both rainfall and temperatures are evolving at a massive speed, putting both insurers and agricultural business at risk.

AgromAI, using its geospatial data and artificial intelligence systems, will make sure that financial institutions and insurers can avoid and respond to these risks. Having individual farm-level intelligence, these insurers and institutions will have the best insurance risk management in place, allowing an increased productivity and growth in Brazil’s agricultural sector.

“Pakistani technology will be used by some of the largest businesses in the world, and with more developed markets as a stomping ground,” said CEO Muzaffar Manghi while talking about the new startup.

“We are extremely proud to export our artificial intelligence and data-backed products developed solely by Pakistani engineers. This is a testament to the innovation of Pakistani talent and their potential to make a contribution to the global agritech industry,” said Farmdar in its official press release.

Agriculture makes up for a large part of the Brazilian economy, with the country being the world’s third-largest exporter of agricultural products and an agricultural production valued at $170+ billion, whereas Brazil’s crop insurance market, the primary target for AgromAI, accounts for over $9+ billion annually.

MORE THAN A COUNT: INSIGHTS FROM PAKISTAN’S FIRST DIGITAL CENSUS


https://tribune.com.pk/story/2421210/more-than-a-count-insights-fro...

After a delay of one month, the 2023 Housing and Population Census was carried out in March, with a significant technological twist. The headcount, for the first time in Pakistan’s history, relied on a digital approach with the aim of making the process more efficient and accessible to Pakistanis, and revolutionising the way the data is collected. The result was the implementation of the Digital Census Self-Enumeration Portal, which was made available to the public from February 20 to March 3.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), which conducts the census, citizens could register their family and home details by themselves at the portal using a registered mobile device. A door-to-door digital count was then conducted between March 1 and April 1 to verify the information citizens who used the portal had recorded and to count those who did not self-enumerate.

But even as it marked a huge step forward for the nation, the decision to conduct the census digitally has not been without hurdles. The previous government had given a go-ahead for the headcount as far back as October 2021, with the exercise originally scheduled for the same month the following year. But its ouster following a vote of no-confidence allowed the date to be pushed to February this year, with the PBS required to submit its data on April 30.

The PBS then delayed the headcount once more to March, reportedly for both political and procedural reasons, with the incumbent government appearing to benefit as it provided justifiable grounds to continue its tenure until August this year amid the legal challenges it faced. Ensuring the count was carried out within the stipulated timeline was also contingent upon the availability of around Rs22 billion at a time the country’s economy is trapped in a negative spiral.

The enumeration concluded throughout the country on May 22 and the preliminary results were announced a day later. The total population of Pakistan (including the Islamabad Capital Territory, but excluding Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir) came out to be nearly 250 million – 249,566,743 to be exact.

In Pakistan, a census is supposed to be carried out every ten years so that elections and government policies and planning can better reflect demographical changes our ever-growing populous nation has gone through. For one reason or another, the exercise has been subjected to fits and starts. The last census was conducted just six years ago in 2017, although the results were challenged and made controversial by various political quarters. The 2017 exercise was carried out 19 years after the last one in 1998, which too took place 18 years after the one before.

Although the digital approach this time around marked a significant development, it has attracted its set of controversies too with several stakeholders concerned whether the final detailed population breakdown will reflect an accurate demographic picture of the country. As we wait, The Express Tribune sought insights on the exercise from across the country to make better sense of the positives and negatives.

Demystifying the digital approach

Speaking to The Express Tribune, the PBS director for Sindh Munawar Ali Ghangro explained why the seventh national census of the country was carried out so quickly after the last one. “When the Council of Common Interests released the results of the 2017 census, it did so on the condition that a fresh headcount was be carried out before the next general elections,” he recalled.

Discussing how digital tools ended up being relied upon for the 2023 census, Ghangro shared that that in the year-and-a-half since they received the directives for a new headcount, the PBS planned the exercise around new technologies and techniques. “This year, thus, marked the first-ever digital census and we are still processing the results.”

MORE THAN A COUNT: INSIGHTS FROM PAKISTAN’S FIRST DIGITAL CENSUS


https://tribune.com.pk/story/2421210/more-than-a-count-insights-fro...


The main idea of the huge exercise of conducting a housing and population census is the development of policy and planning with the extensive data collected. The federal government arranges and make all the decisions, while provinces manage the operational end, or in other words the technical and financial support is provided by the federal government, while human resource and operations are done by the provinces.

The senior PBS official from Sindh emphasised that such a large operation does not depend on just one department and its decisions. “Numerous resources from several departments are involved and [their officials are] assigned duties accordingly,” he said. “[For the 2023 census] the ground results were shared via dashboards and monitoring tools with assistant commissioners of districts in Sindh, Punjab, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa who work as census district officers (CDOs). In AJK, G-B and Balochistan, the deputy commissioners plays the role of CDOs. In the eight cantonment areas of Sindh, the cantonment executive officers work as CDOs,” he said.

He added that the digital census was a leap forward for Pakistan and will contribute positively by revising and upgrading policies in the spheres of general elections and distribution of resources as per population count with reference to their province-wise geographical strength.

The census experience in Sindh

According to news reports, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) had purchased all 126,000 tablets required for the exercise and had configured them with its software, to be used by as many as 121,000 individuals. “In just Karachi, around 10,000 resources were used to conduct the whole procedure. In the rest of Sindh, just 23,000 resources including monitors, administrators, enumerators and PBS staff were used,” shared Ghanghro.

For the household count, a team of two members went door-to-door with an enumerator and a police constable. Every five to six such teams reported to a supervisor. Data was collected in several categories that include, individual, household, house count, structure, units, and characteristics. The reason for these categories is that each building structure is not a house and each house does not have just one household, so several families residing together are counted in several categories.

“Due to self-enumeration, the burden of the workforce was decreased, and self-credibility developed among people as they felt more confident that the data cannot be tampered with or changed in the digital system,” Ghangro said. He added that despite the self-enumeration, field workers went to each household and re-checked the data.

The main reason for going door-to-door was that each structure was geo-tagged in the process, the senior PBS official said. According to him, the data collected is not just used for political purposes, but for planning and policy for development, education, energy and mining, foreign economic assistance, foreign trade, health, insurance, labour, manufacturing, money and credit, national accounts, population, public finance, social and culture, transport, and communications. “Every government department or area of function has their own concerns, purposes and perspective so they take the data accordingly,” said Ghangro. “Education pulls the data to see what would be the need for schools in the next five years, the health department to see whether more hospitals will be required and in what areas. If the elderly population is greater or if the youth population is greater in a certain area, then what development projects can be looked at. So each department plans and uses the data as per their need and requirement.”

The number of 3G/4G subscribers in Pakistan has shown a year-on-year growth of 9%. In May 2023, the total number of subscribers reached 124.1 million, compared to 113.9 million in May 2022. There has been a slight decline of 0.7 million subscribers during the months of April and May 2023. Moreover, the factor behind decrease/decline can be attributed to the implementation of Multi Finger Biometric Verification System (MBVS). Fraudulent/artificial sale activation of SIM cards has largely stopped.

https://www.phoneworld.com.pk/significant-decline-in-3g-4g-users-ca...

TECHNOLOGY AND TEACHERS
Article by Andrew Sharp Photos courtesy of Sabrin Beg May 05, 2023

https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2023/april/effects-technology-education...


Lerner College (University of Delware) professors explore how electronic devices impact classrooms in Pakistan


Developing countries like Pakistan are struggling to improve education, the researchers wrote, and their governments tend to use several strategies. One is to supply technology directly to students in an effort to make up for teachers’ shortcomings. The other is costly investment in teacher training, which may not be effective if governments don’t pour substantial resources into the design and support of the project.

This research has important implications for how to improve education in countries facing similar dilemmas.

“Every country, everywhere in the world, has a constrained budget, right?” Lucas said. “That’s why there are economists. And so this is just thinking about how to use those scarce education resources most effectively.”

That’s where the research comes in. The government of Punjab province in Pakistan developed digital teaching material featuring expert teachers, and wanted to know if it would be more effective to give preloaded tablets with the high quality material to each student, or to give one tablet to the teacher along with a display screen so the teacher could present the material. The digital lessons included explainer videos, review questions and more.

Through a connection of Beg’s in Pakistan, the UD pair was brought on board to conduct the study. They examined student performance among classrooms using a randomized controlled trial in which randomly selected schools used the two different kinds of digital lessons, while control schools operated as usual. The government of Punjab provided the technology.

One outcome that surprised Beg and Lucas was the magnitude of the effects. The study found a stark difference between the outcomes of the different approaches to delivering the digital material.

The eLearn classrooms — the ones focused on providing material to teachers — did improve student learning, with students outperforming the control group by a whopping 60%. They were also 5% more likely to pass the standardized test at the end of the academic year.

The students who each got tablets, but whose teachers could not display the content to the class, actually performed 95% worse than the control group.

“Basically, it’s like (these) students almost learned nothing … relative to the control students,” Lucas said.

When each student received a tablet, Beg said, there wasn’t a way for teachers to engage with the technology. “It made it actually maybe harder for the teachers to make it part of their regular classroom teaching, whereas the screens (eLearn Classrooms) did the opposite.”

In other words, “One of the more important takeaways was that teacher engagement seems to be an important ingredient in making technology successful in the classrooms,” Beg said. Also, “It’s not something that will solve all learning crises in developing countries, but that (technology) should be integrated into the classroom.” Appropriately, of course, to avoid the negative effects.

A lot of governments, she said, find technology very promising but don’t know exactly how to integrate it to make it useful.

There’s been a tendency, Lucas said, to bypass teachers using tech or after-school programs that basically create a parallel education system. “But … what this shows is no, these teachers are capable of delivering more learning to their students. And (in this case) the way that this happened was through technology.”

CONNECTING PAKISTAN
Covid-19 as a Catalyst for Digital Transformation

https://www.tabadlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/2021-05-25-Taba...


Executive Summary
Covid-19 has altered the fundamentals of how societies and economies organised
and operated in an ever-connected world. The pandemic has disrupted and
altered the connectivity in three foundational ways. It changed human-to-human
interaction, it undermined the capacity of individuals and firms to engage in
economic activity, and it reduced the financial connectivity that drives economy.
At the heart of the response to this compromised connectivity were mobile and
internet services. The pandemic required two immediate policy actions. The first
was to tackle infection-enabling behaviour, and the second was to limit infectionenabling connectivity. Furthermore, the pandemic’s impact on livelihoods, on
learning, on healthcare and on transactions of all kinds needed to be mitigated. In
each case, it was the digital realm in which the immediate solutions to the impact
of Covid-19 were found.
Over 160 million Pakistanis experience digital through their mobile phones. The
pandemic has demonstrated how integral mobile phones were in restoring
human, transactional, and financial connectivity, and are now where key
interactions take place. Mobile operativity is enabled by the telecom sector, which
has a crucial role to play in ensuring connectivity and expanding our digital
economy. However, the telecom sector must start to think about connectivity in
terms of value creation. Human, financial and transactional connectivity has the
potential to generate new ideas, services, tools and opportunities for economic
growth if the correct mindset is applied.
The wider impact of the telecom sector’s response to Covid-19, however, is likely
yet to be seen. The pandemic response has laid bare the spectrum of issues that
prevent digital connectivity in Pakistan—a pathway to rapid and sustainable
economic growth and social development. Disparities in digital access cut across
income levels, gender and the rural-urban divide. The quality of digital services
remains inefficient due to low Internet bandwidth, barriers to innovation and a
need for better decision-making capacity at the policy level. Lastly, there is
potential for higher levels of digital adoption, as Pakistan has a relatively high
usage gap where 54% of people who are covered by broadband networks do not
subscribe to broadband services.
How can Pakistan catalyse a digital transformation? The country requires a
coherent policy framework for mobile, internet and the wider telecom sector. One
important aspect of coherence is the establishment of a broader ecosystem in
which telecom can thrive. A key driver of digitalisation is the extent to which
government adopts and adapts digital solutions, especially in its engagement with
citizens. Enhanced engagement, usability and responsiveness of government
through technology is thus crucial for a national digital transformation. The
normative place of digital in Pakistan needs to be affirmed through clear and
comprehensive policy and communication efforts. Technically, Pakistan needs to
prioritise optimising spectrum allocation in a manner that drives economic growth.

Revenue in Pakistan Laptops market amounts to US$0.88bn in 2023. The market is expected to grow annually by 5.52% (CAGR 2023-2028).
In global comparison, most revenue is generated in China (US$23,250.00m in 2023).
In relation to total population figures, per person revenues of US$3.75 are generated in 2023.
In the Laptops market, volume is expected to amount to 1.54m pieces by 2028. The Laptops market is expected to show a volume growth of 2.5% in 2024.
The average volume per person in the Laptops market is expected to amount to 0.01pieces in 2023.

https://www.statista.com/outlook/cmo/consumer-electronics/computing...

Pakistan - Country Commercial Guide



https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/pakistan-computers-...


This is a best prospect industry for this country. Includes a market overview and trade data.

Last published date: 2022-11-10
Overview
(US$ Million)

Table: Total Market Size


2019

2020

2021

2022* (Estimated)

Total Local Production

1.75

1.00

1.20

0.95

Total Exports

0.00

0.00

0.0

0.0

Total Imports

431.55

395.73

414.78

443.81

Imports from the US



53.20

46.55

48.17

52.98

Total Market Size

433.30

396.73

415.98

444.76

Exchange Rates

152.34

158.82

159.02

210.17

* Sources: Pakistan Economic Survey 2021-22, Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Government of Pakistan

Local chambers of Commerce and Industry, Trade Essociations, and Market Experts
Despite the global pandemic and domestic macroeconomic challenges, Pakistan’s market for computers and peripherals has seen a steady growth trajectory during the last fiscal year. With virtually no domestic production, the country relies heavily on imports. The local market is generally receptive to U.S. brands, mainly due to the quality and reliability of their products; however, other foreign brands from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, and China offer a strong competition. Major U.S. brands such as Dell, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco have established a strong presence in Pakistan.

The information technology (IT) in Pakistan has seen an overall healthy uptick in growth during the last year. Despite overall macroeconomic pressures, the computers and peripherals sector has retained its position as a major prospective sector for the U.S. companies. The public and private sectors in Pakistan place a high priority on the introduction, availability, and utilization of computers and other IT equipment in routine and critical workflows. The Government of Pakistan (GOP) through the National IT Policy emphasizes computer availability, usage, connectivity, and skills development. In addition, the GOP has launched several projects and incentive schemes to ensure a widespread availability of computers to the local consumers. Some of the initiatives include development of software technology parks; special technology zones; the provision of demand-based training; increasing internet penetration through multiple mediums including broadband, wireless broadband, and fiber optic; research and development; digitization of public-sector records, technology incubation centers; and training and skills development centers. According to industry expects, the demand of IT equipment related to cyber security sub-sector is also expected to grow by at least 3 percent in the next few years.

The primary users of computers and peripherals in Pakistan are private businesses; IT services companies, software development houses, call centers, Business Process Outsourcers (BPOs), internet service providers, public and private sector incubation centers, educational institutions, freelance developers, and private users. There are more than 3,000 IT and IT-enabled companies, employing over 100,000 qualified IT professionals in Pakistan. Software development, including specialized application development has emerged as a major business sub-sector during the last several years. According to the latest statistics, there are approximately 25,000 qualified professionals associated with this sub-sector and this number is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3-4 percent in the coming years.

Supernet Wins Major Optical Fiber Supply and Deployment Project worth PKR 150 million

https://www.techjuice.pk/supernet-wins-major-optical-fiber-supply-a...

Supernet Limited (“Supernet”) has secured a sizeable telecommunications infrastructure development project from a Pakistani mobile network operator.

The project valued at over PKR 150 million includes the supply of optical fiber and associated equipment and its deployment in different areas of Punjab. The total length of different segments constituting this project is approximately 140 kilometers.

With this project, Supernet has reached a significant milestone of 1,000 kilometers of optical fiber supply and deployment projects awarded by mobile network operators in Pakistan.

Head of Business Unit-Telecoms & Defense at Supernet, Ali Akhtar said:

“We are excited to play our part in the expansion of telecommunications infrastructure in Pakistan and supporting the proliferation of communications and digital services by mobile network operators in the country. We are ever grateful to our customers for repeatedly trusting Supernet. The optical fiber business line is a relatively new endeavour for Supernet and the 1,000 kilometres mark is a testament to our capabilities and the springboard for further growth in this segment. This is a strong start to 2022 and we will strive to keep the momentum going.”

Supernet Limited, one of Pakistan’s leading telecommunications service providers and systems integrators, has been operating since 1995. Supernet offers a full portfolio of local-to-global integrated communications infrastructure solutions to Telecoms, Defense, Enterprise, and Government entities.

Supernet’s “Connectivity” products and services include a broad spectrum of Wide Area Network (WAN) and Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) solutions based on satellite, fiber optics, microwave, and radios. In recent years, Supernet has established its expertise in domains including cybersecurity, power, networking, and surveillance solutions as part of its “Beyond Connectivity” initiative thereby offering a richer portfolio of solutions and services to customers.

The first fintech service in Pakistan was introduced in 2009 by telecom company, Easypaisa. At first, the service only provided money transfers. However, it has since introduced a mobile app that offers a wide range of financial services, making it Pakistan's first fintech platform.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/08/17/the-f...

Now, Pakistan has a wide range of mobile financial services (MFS). Their usage level is significant because these services allow individuals to set up a mobile money account using their SIM number. Mobile financial services are convenient and offer essential financial services such as money transfers and bill payments. These services do not have any physical banks but instead rely on agents (vendors) nationwide.

Banks often provide their users with an online banking experience either by creating a portal or an app. However, only a few bank MFS apps enable customers to perform financial transactions while others simply provide information on a user’s financial status.

Fintech Startups: Neobanks
Even though the existing services offer a decent mobile financial experience to their users by taking care of basic needs, this is not fintech at its true scale. Pakistan has seen a significant increase in fintech startups in recent years. These neobanks operate entirely online without any physical banking network. They allow users to open a bank account, make instant payments, transfer money, pay bills and create virtual cards.

However, the question remains, what are the keys to a successful fintech startup in Pakistan?

Challenges Faced By Fintech Startups In Pakistan
1. Market Saturation And Limited Investment
The fintech market is already filled with incumbent organizations. These organizations are not always welcoming of innovation, which is an issue for upcoming fintech companies trying to find partnerships or investments.

And since most of the fintech services in Pakistan are owned by well-established banks or telecommunications companies, almost all funding and investments are directed toward them, leaving fintech startups with limited venture capital and funding opportunities.

2. Poor Financial Inclusion
Pakistan's financial inclusion status is below average, ranking 16th out of 26 countries in a Brookings report. Despite 80% of financial services being provided by the banking sector, they serve only 15% of the population, which is a significantly low percentage.

A survey by the State Bank of Pakistan revealed that basic financial literacy is possessed by only 23% of Pakistan’s population. The World Bank states that about 100 million adults in Pakistan are not even aware of the regulated financial services provided in the country. This number represents 5% of the world’s 2 billion unbanked people.

3. Unreliable Infrastructure
The digital infrastructure in Pakistan also needs to be improved. A clear example is the nationwide internet blackouts, which make internet services in Pakistan unreliable. This uncertainty and unreliability of the internet can disrupt transaction processing and service delivery. Payment services like Paypal are also nonexistent in Pakistan, which shows the massive lack of digital payment infrastructure in Pakistan’s cash-based economy.

4. Regulatory Failures
Despite implementing regulations such as the Regulations for Mobile Banking Interoperability and creating the Third Party Service Provider (TPSP) License that highly favor fintech startups, not all policies by Pakistan's government are friendly to fintech advances; a clear example of this is the 2018 ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining.

TPL Maps - Pakistan’s first consumer navigation app set to revolutionise travel

https://www.dawn.com/news/1770618

TPL Maps, a subsidiary of TPL Corp, announced the launch of their consumer navigation app, the nation’s first smart maps application that brings cutting-edge location data, location intelligence, and GIS services to both corporate institutions and individual users. The app is set to transform the way mapping is done in Pakistan, while also empowering businesses to harness the power of location-based data and intelligence for scaling their operations.

TPL Maps, debuted the beta version of the app on Monday August 14, 2023. This ground-breaking app designed to provide local users with fuel-efficient route optimisation, public transport and mass transit information, and hyper-local landmark-based navigation, all in one platform.


“We are thrilled to introduce the TPL Maps app, a game-changer in the mapping landscape of Pakistan,” said Sarwar Khan, CEO - TPL Maps. “Our team of Pakistani engineers and data scientists worked tirelessly to create a comprehensive mapping solution that caters to both individual users and corporate entities. With its advanced features and unparalleled accuracy, TPL Maps will redefine how Pakistanis navigate and how corporations utilise location-based data.”

As the pioneer in Pakistan’s location technology industry, TPL Maps boasts the largest localised data catalogue of over 8 million Points of Interest, spanning more than 350 cities nationwide. The app boasts a robust database maintained and expanded by a team of over 100 dedicated employees, including 20 skilled data scientists.

Their dedication to innovation is further reinforced by the wealth of big data that fuels TPL Maps. With inputs from over 8 million Point of Interest, a road network spanning over 1 million kilometers, and a comprehensive archive of over 550,000 cartograms, the app offers unparalleled precision and detail in its mapping services.

During its two years in operation, TPL Maps has earned the trust of local and international brands alike by leveraging the power of location. Its seamless integration of location intelligence and GIS services has enabled businesses to make data-driven decisions, optimise resource allocation, and increase their revenues.


“Through TPL Maps, we aim to empower businesses across Pakistan to understand the significance of location and harness its potential for business growth,” said Khan. “With our strong grasp over location technology, we are here to guide our clients on how they can leverage location data and intelligence to drive business performance, identify cost-saving opportunities, and improve their overall efficiency.”

The launch of TPL Maps marks a significant milestone in the evolution of location intelligence in Pakistan. Its user-friendly interface, paired with a wealth of accurate and up-to-date data, positions TPL Maps as the industry leader in providing smart mapping solutions that cater to diverse needs.

To experience the power of TPL Maps firsthand, users can download the app from the App Store/Play Store, available for both iOS and Android devices and Flutter. For corporate institutions looking to scale their operations and optimise performance, TPL Maps is ready to provide personalised solutions tailored to their unique requirements, offering 30,000 free hits for trial.

Pakistani FinTech Neem secures strategic investment from DNI Group

https://fintech.global/2023/06/26/pakistani-fintech-neem-secures-st...

It has been announced that Neem, an innovative Pakistani FinTech startup, has entered into a strategic partnership with DNI Group.

Neem is renowned for its commitment towards revolutionising financial accessibility and inclusivity across emerging markets, particularly in Pakistan.

The company has secured significant financial investment from DNI Group, a globally recognised investment firm with operations across 28 countries. The deal signifies a vote of confidence in the embedded finance model and is reflective of the burgeoning Pakistani digital tech ecosystem.

Neem is in the process of developing a Banking-as-a-Service platform. Their vision is to foster financial wellness among underserved communities. The business aims to empower numerous digital platforms across different industries, by offering their customers a comprehensive suite of embedded finance products through secure, API-based integrations.

The new funding will further strengthen Neem’s commitment to financial wellness, an ethos that revolves around the principle that individuals and businesses can take control of their financial lives with the right tools and access.

It is also expected to enhance Neem’s collaboration with other portfolio companies under the DNI Group umbrella, such as Airvantage, an airtime lending firm, and Paymenow, an earned wage access solution provider.

Neem has always sought to make a significant impact in its homeland of Pakistan, whilst nurturing the ambition to expand into other emerging markets in the long term. With the strategic investment from DNI Group, Neem believes it has found an experienced global partner capable of aiding them to realise this goal.

Ross Venter, CEO of DNI’s technology arm, Digital Ecosystems, expressed his excitement about the partnership. He said, “DNI is thrilled to join forces with Neem, a team of like-minded individuals operating in a vibrant, growing economy.

“Neem’s mission to provide financial wellness to the Pakistani market aligns perfectly with DNI’s objectives of empowering people and enhancing financial and digital inclusion. Through DNI’s strategic investment in Neem, we aim to accelerate the development, exchange, and commercialisation of our respective technologies for the benefit of consumers within our global communities.”

Despite challenging macroeconomic circumstances, the digital ecosystem in Pakistan continues to thrive and innovate. Neem is unwavering in its commitment to fostering financial resilience and prosperity for the people of Pakistan and beyond.

Google Gen AI on Agtech in Pakistan:

Pakistan is one of the world's largest producers and suppliers of food and crops. The country's agriculture sector consists of four subsectors:
Food and fiber crops
Horticulture and orchards
Livestock and dairy
Fisheries and forestry
Pakistan's major crops include wheat, cotton, rice, sugarcane, and maize. These crops contribute around 4.9% to the country's total GDP.
Some of the top agriculture startups in Pakistan include: Pak Agri Market, ZD&K Farms, Radical Growth, Mohalla, Khalis Fertilizers.
Some of the top agritech startups in Pakistan include:
Tazah Technologies
Agriculture Republic Pakistan
Crop2X Private Limited
Fowrry Technologies Private Limited
zamindar
SUSTAINABLE AGRI IS
Startups in Pakistan are developing IoT solutions for smart irrigation, such as solar-powered tube wells, or for animal data, such as Cowlar, a solar-powered fitbit for cows.

Why aren’t farmers using new tech?
Kai Ryssdal and Sofia Terenzio
Aug 30, 2023

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/08/30/why-arent-farmers-using-new-...

Agtech, short for agriculture technology, is a growing industry that’s using data tools and software to help farmers improve yields and use fewer resources.

With population growth increasing the global demand for food and climate change hurting crop yields, a swift adoption of agtech may be needed now more than ever. Yet, farmers are hesitant about embracing these new technologies.

What’s in the way of farmers quickly adopting agtech, and how can the industry get more farmers on board?

“Marketplace” host Kai Ryssdal talked to reporter Belle Lin from the Wall Street Journal about her recent article on why so few farmers are using agtech. Below is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kai Ryssdal: Could we have a quick primer, please? What is agtech?


Belle Lin: Absolutely. Agriculture technology, agtech is really the set of tools — both hardware and software — that enables farmers growers to really get the most out of their farming resources and inputs and up boosting their yields. So that’s really the goal of this kind of current wave of farm technology. But it’s really the kind of larger ecosystem software, hardware, robotics, tractors autonomous maybe that allow farmers to kind of do their work with greater efficiency.

Ryssdal: So two things that you said there one yield and current wave, we’ll get to the yield in a minute. But I want to talk about current wave, because as you pointed out, in this piece, it’s been a decade-ish, that that sort of the bigger picture, agtech thing has been a thing.

Lin: That’s right. So it’s about a decade since data analytics and what’s sometimes known as Big Data came around. So, these massive amounts of data that oftentimes companies collect, can also be collected on Americans farms, where some of the environments where the richest data is to be collected. You can collect it on almost every single specific piece of land on the soil itself on the seeds that are planted, where they’re planted down to the type of pesticide that is applied to a single weed where that weed is located. So you can understand, you know, how specific these things can get. And that’s related to this idea of precision agriculture, where all these like very specific inputs tailored to a specific farm, help a farmer to end up doing their work in a way that’s more informed by that data, and boosts their yields with fewer resources.

Ryssdal: Right, so to that yield thing, that’s the name of this whole game — it’s getting more stuff out of the ground per acre farmed than they did before. And there’s an amazing statistic in here it says, according to the Department of Agriculture in 2017, farmers using digital soil maps, which are part of this technology produced about 49% higher winter wheat yields than farmers who didn’t. Again, that’s USDA data. And yet, the thrust of this piece is that farmers almost have too much data and kind of know what to do with it.

Lin: Yeah, absolutely. So not only is there this kind of challenge of getting farmers to use these tools, but once they’ve used them, they face this kind of data paralysis, which is how a farmer described this to me, he’s farming corn and soybean. He feels like he’s collecting so much data on all these different parts of his farm, that he doesn’t know what to do with it. And so that’s a huge problem as well across sectors where, you know, big data, data analytics has promised to kind of deliver all these efficiencies and productivity gains. But oftentimes, what consumers and these farmers feel is that they don’t have that background to say, “OK, now that I know the moisture levels of all my soil, this is what I should do,” right.

Why aren’t farmers using new tech?
Kai Ryssdal and Sofia Terenzio
Aug 30, 2023

https://www.marketplace.org/2023/08/30/why-arent-farmers-using-new-...

Lin: Yeah, absolutely. So not only is there this kind of challenge of getting farmers to use these tools, but once they’ve used them, they face this kind of data paralysis, which is how a farmer described this to me, he’s farming corn and soybean. He feels like he’s collecting so much data on all these different parts of his farm, that he doesn’t know what to do with it. And so that’s a huge problem as well across sectors where, you know, big data, data analytics has promised to kind of deliver all these efficiencies and productivity gains. But oftentimes, what consumers and these farmers feel is that they don’t have that background to say, “OK, now that I know the moisture levels of all my soil, this is what I should do,” right.

Ryssdal: I do not want to sound by any means ageist here, and apologies to the young farmers out there. But the average age of a farmer in this economy right now, as you point out is like 58.

Lin: Yeah, and that’s a big problem. Those folks are not as accustomed to utilizing technology to help inform their decisions.

Ryssdal: This is perhaps a little bit of field. But there’s an infrastructure part of this as well, right, in that a lot of almost all of this probably counts on connectivity and broadband. And I imagine if you’re out in in wherever you are on the Great Plains connectivity might be bad, you might not have service.

Lin: Yeah, that’s a great point. All of what we’re talking about in terms of agtech relies on having that internet connection, reliable way of streaming the data that you collect. And so connectivity is a major problem on farms that are far flung or not as connected to the internet speeds that people in cities are used to. And so one of the problems that farmers run into is that when they’re driving their equipment over a hill, for instance, you might have connectivity and one side of the hill, but you don’t on the other.

Ryssdal: Not to put a depressing punctuation mark on this conversation, but there are — I honestly can’t remember if it’s 8 or 9 billion people on this planet now — but there are going to be more in the future. And we have to feed them all. And this is part of the way we’re going to do it and adjust to climate change too, by the way.

Lin: Yeah, theoretically, farmers could boost their yields, and that would generate more food to feed the world’s growing and hungry population, and also in a way that they’re using fewer resources. So that’s the promise of it all, but right now it’s falling a bit short.

These entrepreneurs in Pakistan are moving the country’s massive secondhand clothes market online

https://www.fastcompany.com/90956788/pakistan-economy-swag-kicks-se...

With the country in the middle of a historic economic crisis, secondhand sellers are seeing big business as they build an e-commerce market.

Iqra Anwar, a resident of Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan is a frequent thrift shopper. Though her favorite brands—American fast-fashion staples like H&M, Zara, and Victoria’s Secret—don’t have outposts in the city, she still manages to buy their preloved versions at dirt cheap prices by thrifting.

“I got tank tops for 200 rupees (66 cents), which I would have otherwise gotten for 2000 rupees or for even more than 3000 rupees (around $10),” she says about her latest purchase.

The 22-year-old university student wanted stylish and branded clothes on a budget while she attended her classes. She’s not alone. With Pakistan in the midst of its worst-ever economic crisis and its currency severely devalued alongside record-high inflation (annual inflation was at 38% in May), she says she’s seeing more people are turning to affordable, secondhand clothing.

“Now, a lot of my friends who are from elite backgrounds ask me to go thrifting with them because the economy has affected anyone and everyone,” Anwar says. “They could buy [new] Shein and Zara products two years ago, but now they cannot.” Shoppers like Anwar also recognize the climate impact of getting as much wear out of fast-fashion items. “Because of fast fashion, there are landfills with clothes that people have only worn once,” she says. “It has become more of a social good thing to thrift.”

Whatever their reasons, shoppers in Pakistan have no shortage of pre-worn clothes. In 2021, Pakistan imported $180M of secondhand clothing, becoming the second-largest importer of pre-owned clothing in the world. Secondhand clothing was mainly imported from China, United States, and Canada and became the 69th most imported product in Pakistan. The country has long had a booming secondhand market, with clothing being sold at its “landa bazaars.” As the purchasing power of everyday Pakistani shoppers has been diminished, these bazaars—and a growing roster of online clothing sellers—have become resources for keeping wardrobes across the country full.

Until relatively recently, online sale of pre-owned clothing in Pakistan has been negligible. One of the earliest marketplaces to debut online was Swag Kicks, founded by self-described sneakerhead Nofal Khan who, as a child, would rely on his relatives visiting from Western countries to get him high-end branded sneakers that were unavailable in Pakistan. That is, until he discovered warehouses housing imported secondhand shoes.

“There were Jordans, Onitsuka Tiger, Nike Air Force 1s . . . the kind of shoes that I would never get in Pakistan,”Khan says. “When I used to wear those shoes to university, a lot of people would ask me where I got them from. That’s when I realized . . . they didn’t have access to quality shoes.” This made him realize the potential of this business and pushed him to start an online marketplace.

Earlier this year, Swag Kicks raised $1.2 million in a seed funding round led by i2i Ventures, joined by Techstars Toronto, SOSV Orbit, and local angel investors. This money, Nofal says, is being invested into automating the inventory process, scaling existing technology and improving disinfection and sanitization of clothes.

These entrepreneurs in Pakistan are moving the country’s massive secondhand clothes market online

https://www.fastcompany.com/90956788/pakistan-economy-swag-kicks-se...


Digitalizing this market makes sense for Pakistan: the country has a huge young population with around 64% of the population under 30 years old. Internet penetration stood at 36.7% at the start of 2023, giving easy access to online stores.

“Young people are looking at global trends on Instagram and TikTok. They follow Western celebrities, and they know which shoes are famous, but they don’t have access to those brands,” Khan says. “We are bridging the gap by bringing the best of sneaker culture to Pakistan . . . and listing them on our website for a fraction of the cost of what their brand-new counterparts would cost.”

Digitizing has also given the online marketplace an upper hand over the existing physical landa bazaars. These markets are crowded, located in far-flung areas and often considered unsafe for women. And physical stores limit inventory, something Khan says is an advantage to selling online. “At any given point, we have 25,000 different types of shoes,” he says. “Physical stores can hold a limited amount of inventory.”

Through trending reels and captivating visuals, the startup aims to attract a younger audience on social media. Its TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook pages boast a combined reach of 135,000 followers.

Instagram in particular is where a growing number of sellers are courting younger shoppers like Iqra—and its user demographics are on their side. People, aged 18 to 24, are Instagram’s largest user group in Pakistan, which has 13 million users nationwide.

Sellers like Zari Faisal are using this to their advantage, using the platform as a storefront for pre-owned clothing. Faisal’s Instagram account, Thrifty Preloved, started in 2019 as an experiment, and has grown to have more than 40,000 followers who place an average of 300 orders per week—fulfilled by more than 20 employees. Faisal adds five to six new products per day, and offers delivery to nationwide—including smaller cities like Lodhran and Bahawalpur.

More than just e-commerce destinations, Instagram accounts also serve as resources for potential customers—Faisal says she has helped suggest outfits for a follower asking about what they might wear to a business presentation. “Our team got really involved,” Faisal says. “To be that sort of buddy that someone comes to for fashion advice is something that we really enjoy doing.”

Faisal sees continued growth in thrift shopping as Pakistan’s economic turmoil continues—and says she’s playing a role in keeping fashion accessible. “A generic Zara piece would cost around 13000 Pakistani rupees (roughly $43.66) minimum. . . . We’re able to provide Zara pieces, under, like you know, 2500 rupees ($8.25),” she says. “We are getting access to [good quality] products at pricing that none of us would be able to afford in Pakistan right now.”

1st carrier neutral IXP, data centre set up in Pakistan

https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1152827-1st-carrier-neutral-ixp-da...

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates-based Etisalat has set up Pakistan’s first carrier-neutral IXP and data centre in the country to strengthen the reliability of internet connectivity while the PTCL will work with the DE CIX German data centre and IXP operator to run the operations of the new data centre.

Bringing a world-class data centre operator to Pakistan will now enable Pakistan to both bring super-scaling cloud services such as AWS, Google Cloud and Azure and provide a local content hub for content services such as YouTube, TikTok and Netflix. Inaugurating the Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE) powered by the DE-CIX, the first carrier-neutral IX in the country, Federal Minister for IT & Telecommunications Dr Umar Saif made the landmark announcement associated with the IT sector and revealed that China would start routing its internet traffic through Pakistan and it would make Pakistan a regional hub for connectivity. At the same time, it would be a source of earning huge revenue for internet transit traffic.

Describing the revolutionary steps, Dr Saif said: “Pakistan is a massive digital market, with an internet user-base larger than the population of Italy. Over the past few years, we have made significant strides in advancing fiber connectivity. We got two fiber loops from Kashghar to Rawalpindi, further extended to Karachi by the PTCL. Additionally, multiple submarine cables making landfall in Karachi further enhance our connectivity. Now, the PTCL Business Solution’s carrier neutral data centre, managed by a tier 1 data centre operator, DE-CIX is up and running and generates exciting prospects for localized content hosting from leading platforms like YouTube, Netflix and TikTok. The content cached and routed from Pakistan can seamlessly reach other markets, positioning us as the regional digital connectivity hub. It can generate annual revenues, ranging from $200-400 million through transit traffic to substantially add to our economy.” The PTCL is the largest integrated information communication technology company of Pakistan and DE-CIX is the world’s leading Internet Exchange (IX) operator. Housed in the PTCL data centre in Karachi, the IX is operated by the DE-CIX as a service (DaaS) model and built on the DE-CIX’s award-winning interconnection infrastructure. The interconnection platform offers local peering as well as remote access to the DE-CIX Frankfurt (Germany), one of the largest IXs in the world. The PIE powered by the DE-CIX is set to serve as a hub for regional connectivity, enabling local networks low-latency interconnection and localization of global content, while increasing network stability, scalability and security.

Pakistan Regional Hub For Internet Connectivity: Post by Umar Saif on X


https://x.com/umarsaif/status/1751924936871162047?s=20

Umar Saif
@umarsaif
Today is a momunental day for the Pakistan telecom and IT industry. Three important milestones achieved today in collaboration with PTCL, SCO, PTA, De CIX, PEACE Cable and China Mobile:

1. We have reached an agreement for China to start routing their Internet traffic through Pakistan — making Pakistan a regional hub for connectivity. This will earn Pakistan huge revenue for Internet transit traffic.

2. Etisalat has setup Pakistan’s first carrier-neutral IXP and Data center in Pakistan to strengthen the reliability of internet connectivity.

3. PTCL will work with DE CIX German data center and IXP operator to run the operations of this new data center. Bringing a world-class data center operator to Pakistan will now enable us to both bring super-scaling cloud services such as AWS, Google Cloud and Azure to Pakistan and provide a local content hub for content services such as YouTube, TikTok and Netflix.

4. Pakistan’s internet users can now access services locally and Pakistan can become a hub of regional connectivity.