Senator Dr Afnan Ullah Khan, member of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications, issued a pointed warning at a public-private dialogue in Islamabad that Pakistan cannot afford to miss the emerging knowledge economy after having historically failed to participate meaningfully in earlier industrial revolutions. Speaking at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s dialogue on “Building the 5G Economy: Industry 4.0, Enterprise Uptake, and Ecosystem Preparedness,” the senator framed digital infrastructure and related legislation not as optional investments but as essential prerequisites for long-term national competitiveness. He informed participants that a Data Protection Bill had been tabled in the Senate with the explicit aim of attracting foreign investment into Pakistan’s data centre sector, noting that international investors consistently prefer jurisdictions with credible data protection frameworks and that only serious legislation could unlock the billions of dollars in foreign direct investment the sector is capable of drawing. He also cautioned against the creation of a surveillance state, stressing that data localisation, digital rights, and affordable internet access are non-negotiable elements of any responsible digital policy framework.
The economic case for integrating fifth generation technology effectively was presented by Dr Sajid Amin Javed, Deputy Executive Director of Research at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, who noted that even a moderate fifth generation rollout could raise economic productivity by two to three percent annually, equivalent to nearly United States Dollars 12 billion in additional output for Pakistan each year. A more comprehensive rollout spanning industry, academia, health, and education could generate productivity gains of up to five percent over the next several years, translating to approximately United States Dollars 20 billion annually. He cautioned, however, that these gains would not materialise automatically, warning policymakers to ensure the fifth generation does not deepen the digital divide between urban and rural populations. Small and medium enterprises, which constitute over 80 percent of Pakistan’s industrial landscape, have seen only five percent of their number meaningfully digitised, a gap that must be addressed if the productivity benefits of fifth generation technology are to reach the broader economy rather than concentrating among large, already-connected enterprises.
On infrastructure, participants identified fiberisation as the indispensable backbone of any credible fifth generation deployment, with representatives from Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited citing high taxation on fibre equipment and right-of-way bottlenecks as persistent structural impediments. Jahanzaib Raheem of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication noted the government had abolished right-of-way charges at national and provincial levels, costs that had previously accounted for nearly 30 percent of total telecom investment, as part of a broader policy covering mobile, terrestrial, and optical fibre connectivity. Dr Muhammad Mukkaram Khan, Director-General Cyber Vigilance at PTA, added that the authority was directing telecom operators to develop satellite links and synchronise network time protocols with China to reduce Pakistan’s dependence on submarine cable routes vulnerable to regional conflict disruptions, a concern that has grown more acute in the context of the ongoing Iran-United States-Israel war affecting the Strait of Hormuz corridor.
Fatima Akhtar of Jazz Pakistan noted that the company was actively testing fifth generation at multiple sites and assessing enterprise-level impacts, but warned that excessive taxation remained the sector’s most damaging structural challenge, with nearly 40 to 45 percent of operator revenues consumed by various tax obligations, directly constraining the investment capacity needed to accelerate infrastructure deployment. Dr Shafqat Munir of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute concluded the dialogue by stressing that ecosystem preparedness, not spectrum availability, is the determining factor in whether fifth generation technology delivers on its economic potential, warning that spectrum could remain significantly underutilised unless institutional mindsets shift and infrastructure weaknesses are addressed in parallel with the technology rollout itself.
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