Comment by Riaz Haq on July 4, 2023 at 4:01pm

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.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 5, 2023 at 1:12pm

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.

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2023 at 6:59pm

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.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 12, 2023 at 7:00pm

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.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 15, 2023 at 10:39am

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...

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 29, 2023 at 6:21pm

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.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 29, 2023 at 6:50pm

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.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 4, 2023 at 11:24am

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...

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 4, 2023 at 11:34am

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.

Comment by Riaz Haq on August 16, 2023 at 8:02am

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.

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