ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Information Technology and Telecom Dr Umar Saif has said steps have been taken to liberalise the financial regime that will help double IT exports and facilitate freelancers to receive their remittances legally with minimum charges.

“The IT exporters park a major part of their earnings outside the country, as they need to give payments to their international vendors and even employees based abroad,” the minister said while talking to a select group of journalists.

“We worked with the SIFC (Special Investment Facilitation Council) and the State Bank of Pakistan, and now IT companies can keep 50 per cent of their export revenue in dollars in an account in Pakistan to make their international payments,” he added.

Boosting IT exports from the current $2.6 billion to around $5bn was possible by facilitating the industry with the liberal financial regime, he said, adding that the inflow from IT exports had already jumped by 13 per cent in November last year and it would continue to grow.

“This initiative [liberal financial regime] is aimed at addressing the challenges faced by approximately 1.5 million freelancers,” he said, adding that the caretaker government had resolved a long-standing demand of the freelancers by channelising inflows of their remittances.

Dr Saif said the other initiatives undertaken by his ministry included providing smartphones to customers on instalments, standardised quality test for IT graduates to make Pakistan a ‘tech destination’ and approval of the space policy.

He expressed the confidence that 5G services in the country would be launched by July this year and 300MHz spectrum would be offered for auction. He said that before the launch of 5G services, the optic fibre network had to be enhanced. Currently, only 6,000 mobile towers are connected with optic fibre out of around 56,000 towers across the country.

He said the government would on January 12 launch a scheme to provide smartphones on easy instalments. “Telecom companies are on board as Jazz is even planning to offer iPhones on instalments; this will help the companies retain their customers on a long-term basis.”

He said this initiative will also help increase smartphone accessibility across the country, besides increasing broadband usage.

Dr Saif said his ministry had taken a significant decision to revamp IT education in universities in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, National Computing Accreditation Council, Exami­nation Testing Council, Pakistan Software Export Board and Pakistan Software Houses Association.

Under the programme, around 31,000 students have registered themselves for the test so far and successful among them would be offered jobs through the Industry Placement Programme.

Dr Saif disclosed that the government would initiate a project on Jan 11 to establish 10,000 e-Rozgar centres across the country that would be equipped with the latest facilities for freelancers and startups.

The minister said the cabinet had approved the National Space Policy allowing private sector companies to use low-orbit satellites for communications and provide internet services across the country.

He said all international companies, including Starlink, would be allowed to launch satellite communication services in Pakistan after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the Strategic Plans Division and licence from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2024