Final Project Presentation

Subject
Pakistan Studies
Subject Instructor
Madam Aqeela Asif

Group Members:
Imran Ahmed
Malik Saad Abbas
Haroon Sohail
Haider Salman
Qasim Ejaz

Introduction by Imran Ahmed

A short History of IT in Pakistan by Malik Saad Abbas
The current situation of IT in Pakistan by Qasim Ejaz
& Haider Salman
The Bright Future of IT in Pakistan by Haroon Sohail

Conclusion by Imran Ahmed

Information technology (IT) is "the

study,
design,
development,
implementation,
support
or
management
of
computer-based
information
systems,
particularly
software applications and computer
hardware". IT deals with the use of
electronic computers and computer
software to convert, store, protect,
process, transmit,
securely retrieve
Whenand
computer
and communications
information. technologies are combined, the result is
information technology, or "InfoTech".
Information technology is a general term
that describes any technology that helps
to
produce,
manipulate,
store,
communicate,
and/or
disseminate

The computers came to Pakistan in

mid-60
when
second-generation
computer was installed at Karachi.
Presently,
there
are
over
1800
mainframe and minicomputers, about
half of which are in the government
sector. The growth in the number of
computers during the last ten years
was over 35%. This has been possible
due the governments liberal import
policy and reduction/removal of duties.
It is estimated that there are roughly
450,000 new computers every year in
Pakistan. While this seems a pitifully
the small numbers, it represents a

Some of the major uses of IT in Pakistan

were:
Good Governance
Defense
High Agricultural Yield
Industrial Energy
Education
Entertainment

Missile
Technology

JF Thunder

TV Satellite

Countrywide
Internet

Currently Pakistan is making

steady progress in the field of
Information
Technology.
Following are some of the
main aspects that have been
considered by the IT Policy
that was presented in 2002.

Produce 50,000 highly qualified IT Graduates

annually within 7 years to meet the multibillion
dollar Export Target
Impart vocational training to over 100,000
Knowledge workers for IT enabled services within 2
years
Develop world class Institutions of Higher Learning
Strengthen Faculty and Infrastructure of Existing
Universities
Develop
a
modern
countrywide
Telecom
infrastructure and make it affordable.
Develop Pakistan into a regional hub for
Telecommunication and Information flow
Launch a Geo Satellite to extend
telecommunication-broadcasting
facilities to remote areas

Make Government Information and forms available

to citizens on-line
Bring significant improvement in services like Bill
Payment, Agency Specific Applications, Complaint
Handling, etc.
Eliminate the time spent by the citizens waiting in
long queues
Stimulate the Domestic Economy
Create jobs and economic growth in the local
economy by strengthening the IT industry.
Apply IT to the traditional industry to increase its
productivity
Create environment to facilitate e-commerce
Facilitate the automation of banks and other
sectors to improve the general business climate

To meet the growing demand of IT

professionals new IT universities are
being established in the public sector.
The buildings are being acquired
through donations or by leasing at low
rent. The IT campuses will be expanded
to full-fledged universities when they
acquire their charter. Establishment of 7
new IT universities and departments
with improved faculty and resources has

The objective of setting up the National

Testing Service is to provide an affordable,
indigenous service similar to the Educational
Testing Service, USA that offers Graduate
Record Examination (GRE) and Scholastic
Aptitude Test (SAT). The testing service can be
used as entrance criteria by educational
institutions, for the award of scholarship, an
aid to employers in recruitment, or for any
other situation where a widely accepted
standard test is required. The project will be
initiated shortly.

Considerable progress has been made in the recent

past to implement and enhance Fiber Optic
Connectivity in all parts of Pakistan. During the past 1
year, fiber optic connectivity has been increased from
114 to 158 cities. It is targeted to reach 300 cities by
the end of the year 2010. Activation of the alternate
Fiber optic backbone from Karachi to Peshawar,
providing 622 Mbps connectivity is targeted for
completion by June 2002. This will be in addition to the
existing fiber backbone that is to be upgraded with
Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology
thereby increasing the capacity from 622 Mbps to 10
GBps by January 2003.

The bandwidth tariff for the entire portfolio of services

provided by PTCL has decreased under an accelerated
re-balancing plan. Accordingly the Internet tariff has
been reduced to 1/16th in the past 2 years
International E1 (2 Mbps) Internet connectivity is now
available at USD 6000 per month as compared to the
price of USD 83,000 per month prevailing 2 years ago.

The Internet Services Providers (ISPs) became

operational in the country in 1996. By June 30, 2000
the country had 0.1 million Internet Subscribers and
coverage to only 29 cities. Now internet access spread
to over 700 localities throughout the country including
some far flung remote areas and internet usage has
spread many folds.

To facilitate e-commerce and other on-line

transactions requiring digital signature and
authentication the IT Law has been drafted
and reviewed with the Law Ministry. This
Ordinance when promulgated will open the
way for electronic transactions by providing it
a legal cover. The draft ordinances for these
laws and the Intellectual Property Law are
expected to be finalized soon.

Strengthening of IT Institutes
Scholarship Schemes
IT Education in Schools and Colleges
Professional Training Programs
Training Higher Level IT Professionals
Computer Education at Primary Level
Free Computer Resource Centers in
Rural Areas
Information Technology Parks
Increase in Bandwidth of Internet
Providing IT Companies more resources

Although we started in late 80s,

Pakistan has already become to
contribute a respectable share in the
world
of
Information
Technology
worldwide; especially the last decade
has proved very significant in the
grooming of IT industry in our country.
The Information Technology burst has
provided Pakistan a dream for future in
which IT can be used to improve the
standards of our people. It can help us
develop our lives better by tapping the
common benefits of the Internet, and
it can also aid to move further than the
digital divide to digital opportunity.

Government of Pakistan has been taking deep interest

in making the IT industry of Pakistan a strong one. In
this regard, the Federal Cabinet passed National IT
Policy in August 2000, according to which Government
will act as enabler to produce an IT based future
economy. There are a number of important features in
this policy like human resource development, IT
infrastructure
development,
efficiency
and
transparency in Government, improve services to
citizens, stimulate the domestic economy and
increase exports, etc. Government of Pakistan is
reengineering its old processes to improve the
efficiency. They are employing IT to improve the
speed of communication and keep track of its
performance.

The first and foremost need is to develop human

resources in the field of IT. Currently Pakistan has
lesser number of people than the actual required
count in order to compete worldwide. We are in need
of producing thousands of high quality IT graduates
every year. Keeping this purpose in mind, many
initiatives have been taken to increase the capacity of
existing institutions and to build the new ones. These
universities will impart education related to IT field.
New higher education programs have been set and,
for this purpose, new faculty is induced.

On the whole, the future of IT in Pakistan is

very bright. Our IT policy has given Pakistan
special courage to compete in todays world of
IT. It has enabled Pakistan to stand amongst
the top countries with respect to IT and it is
improving day by day. With the same
dedication and good planning, it will continue
to grow in future. Information technology is on
the right track in our country and its future is
also very bright!

You can see from the results that the IT History has
not been very good. Our present is very much
satisfactory but there is a strong need to bring
revolutionary changes in the field of Information
Technology and we will bring that revolution.

Thanks