Pakistan Telecom, IT, Tech updates

[ghazi52]

Pakistan’s iTANZ eyes $45mn tech opportunities through China partnerships​

• iTANZ was part of the official delegation accompanying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to China

BR
May 29, 2026

Pakistan-based iTANZ Technologies Limited has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with three Chinese technology firms for potential collaborations valued at around $45 million, i.e. approximately Rs12.5 billion, aiming to strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital platforms, and offshore software services.

iTANZ Technologies Limited, a publicly listed company on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), was part of the official delegation accompanying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to China aimed at strengthening Pakistan–China economic and strategic cooperation.

 

[hydrabadi_arab]

Pakistani freelancers earn $959 million in 10 months, up 49% year-on-year​

Freelancing exports rise by $317 million during July-April as earnings surpass previous year’s $642 million

Pakistani freelancers generated $959 million in export earnings during the first 10 months of FY2025-26, marking a 49% increase compared to the same period last year, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The earnings, recorded under the computer and information services sector, rose from $642 million during July-April of the previous fiscal year, reflecting an increase of $317 million.

The growth came despite multiple local and global challenges and saw Pakistani freelancers outperform counterparts in India, China, the United Arab Emirates and several other countries during the period.

Pakistan Freelancers Association CEO Dr Imran Batada attributed the increase to the growing participation of Pakistani freelancers on global platforms such as Upwork, Fiverr and various social media platforms.

 

[ghazi52]

PTA moves to declare corporate SMS a separate market​

• Authority eyes tighter oversight of mobile operators

June 4, 2026
By Tahir Amin
B Recorder

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has proposed declaring ‘Corporate SMS’ a distinct telecommunications market and signaled that all cellular mobile operators (CMOs) may be designated as operators with significant market power (SMP) in the segment.

The proposal, unveiled, comes amid mounting complaints from banks, enterprises and service providers over what they describe as excessive corporate SMS tariffs charged by mobile operators despite the use of the same underlying network infrastructure that carries ordinary text messages.

According to the PTA, corporate SMS services have evolved into a specialised business segment used extensively by banks, fintechs, government departments and commercial enterprises for one-time passwords (OTPs), transaction alerts, promotional campaigns and public service notifications.

 

[Fatman17]

Pakistan scales up digital skills push as youth platform reaches 800,000 users

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s flagship Digital Youth Hub has surpassed 800,000 registered users, officials said on Tuesday, as the government and UNICEF step up efforts to expand digital skills training and employment opportunities for young people in a country where nearly two-thirds of the population...

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[Fatman17]

Gul Ahmed announces $230m data centre

Pakistan’s largest Tier III data centre is expected to become operational in 2027.

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[suryaya]

Pakistan's recent surge in IT exports despite all the electrical and internet availability challenges is kind of fascinating to me. Is there any analysis piece done on what is enabling and driving this growth? I wonder if the solar boom enabled this somewhat?

 

[ghazi52]

Gul Ahmed announces $230m data centre​

Fatima S Attarwala
June 6, 2026

KARACHI: Quantum Global Data Centre (QGDC), a venture of the Gul Ahmed Energy Group, announced plans on Thursday to develop Pakistan’s largest Tier III data centre, which is expected to become operational in 2027 with an initial investment of $230 million, Bloomberg reported.

The project’s investment could rise to $600 million over the next three to four years.

The announcement came as QGDC signed a strategic partnership agreement with Huawei Pakistan to develop the facility and a science and technology park to support Pakistan’s digital transformation, according to the press release.

Speaking at the Q Summit, QGDC Chairman Danish Iqbal said that, although Pakistan was still in the early stages of AI adoption, it was already spending between $700m and $800m annually, warning that demand for computing power would rise sharply in the coming years.

“Right now, with this minimal AI, we haven’t even started,” he said. “For our economies to grow, we need to go to very high AI compute. And that compute, without data centres, we will not be able to do.” He warned that Pakistan could end up importing billions of dollars’ worth of computing capacity and data services if domestic infrastructure is not developed.

“We are at that stage that if we don’t take this chance right now, we will miss this boat,” Mr Iqbal said. “And this will be a very costly boat, which we will not be able to build.”

He said the country’s local demand for data centre capacity was already significant and would continue to increase as businesses, hospitals, educational institutions and digital services migrate to cloud-based systems.