Pakistan 2.0: Technology Drives Productivity, Economy
Introduction of green revolution technologies drove Pakistan's rapid GDP growth in 1960s and 1970s when it was essentially an agricultural economy. The decade of 1980s saw livestock revolution that helped increase farm productivity. Will rapid absorption of information and communication technology (ICT) do the same in coming decades?
Abundance of historical data on educational attainment shows that young Pakistanis are more literate and better educated than their parents and grandparents. And recent data confirms that they are rapidly embracing new technologies. Technology, particularly ICT, is increasingly visible among consumers, industries and public sector. As a result, Pakistan today stands at the threshold of soaring productivity and rising standards of living over the next several decades. The basic requirements for it to materialize are maintenance of peace and security and increasing investments in education, health care, energy and infrastructure.
3G, 4G Mobile Broadband Rollout:
The launch of 3G and 4G networks has accelerated the growth of Internet users in Pakistan. More than a million subscribers are signing up every month since the 3G and 4G rollout in the country last year. These new users are generating more and more data traffic requiring rapid increases in available bandwidth.
Pakistan ended March 2015 with over 12.07 million 3G/4G subscribers, up from 10.34 million in February, according to data from Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). Telenor led the 3G/4G market with over 3.53 million subscribers, followed by CMPak (2.95 million 3G/4G subscribers), Mobilink (2.86 million 3G subscribers), and Ufone (2.66 million 3G subscribers). Warid had 66,140 LTE network subscribers at 31 March.
Thousands of kilometers long fiber network is currently in place to deal with the growing domestic bandwidth demand. Several projects are underway to grow this network further.
Consumer Applications:
Young entrepreneurs are developing and launching mobile apps for everything from sports and entertainment to education, ride-sharing and e-commerce.
Pepper.pk has topped BlackBerry’s Appworld with their game Ninja Fruit Bash, TenPearls won Nokia and ATT Innovators 2011 contest through their game Animal 101, start-ups such as PiLabs also made their mark with mobile games such as ‘Field Garfield’ which is an official Garfield game.
A ride-sharing app called savaree, photo-sharing app Groopic and custom shoes app Markhor have been making news lately in Pakistan and overseas.
E-commerce is taking off in Pakistan with companies such as Home shopping, Shophive, daraz.pk and Symbios are becoming popular for online shopping.
Spurred by a favorable regulatory and technology environment, Pakistan is witnessing dramatic growth in mobile banking. Four out of five cellular mobile companies currently operating in Pakistan have launched m-money systems in partnership with financial institutions. The m-money market volume reached 153 million annual transactions worth US$ 6.2 billion as of 2013.
Industrial Applications:
Information and communications technology is being deployed in Pakistan's energy sector.
In addition to automatic reading of smart meters at the customer premises, smart meters have been installed with the support of USAID on incoming and outgoing feeders at all nine government-owned electric utilities. These will help move the system toward building of a smart national grid to better manage power generation, transmission and distribution in the country.
A captive power plant owned by Sapphire Group textile mill in Muridke Lahore is using hundreds embedded sensors and other digital instruments in power turbines, analyzing the data they collect, and using the information to improve the plant’s performance, optimize production and reduce unplanned downtime. US-based General Electric is paying for the sensors and the software. The company will be paid by splitting all benefits with Sapphire under a win-win scenario, according to GE Reports website.
Public Sector Applications:
IT projects ranging from automated meter reading and computerized land records management to online education and mobile banking are now at various stages of implementation across Pakistan. In a report released last year, the World Bank called these projects "unprecedented in the public sector in developing countries". The objective of these efforts is to reduce corruption, increase productivity and improve service delivery in both private and public sectors.
The Punjab government is deploying smartphone applications to crack down on absentee mobile government workers and their corrupt practices. As part of this project, the government employee must send his or her picture and a report of interaction with citizens along with GPS coordinates. For example, a agricultural pest control official required to visit farmers must file reports of his findings and actions in real time via a smartphone app.
Summary:
Pakistan today stands at the threshold of soaring productivity and rising standards of living over the next several decades. The basic requirements for it to materialize are maintenance of peace and security and increasing investments in education, health care, energy and infrastructure.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
High-Speed Fiber Optic Connectivity in Pakistan
E-Commerce in Pakistan
Public Sector Apps in Pakistan
History of Educational Attainment in Pakistan
Online Education in Pakistan
Value Added Agriculture in Pakistan
Upwardly Mobile Pakistan
Abundance of historical data on educational attainment shows that young Pakistanis are more literate and better educated than their parents and grandparents. And recent data confirms that they are rapidly embracing new technologies. Technology, particularly ICT, is increasingly visible among consumers, industries and public sector. As a result, Pakistan today stands at the threshold of soaring productivity and rising standards of living over the next several decades. The basic requirements for it to materialize are maintenance of peace and security and increasing investments in education, health care, energy and infrastructure.
3G, 4G Mobile Broadband Rollout:
The launch of 3G and 4G networks has accelerated the growth of Internet users in Pakistan. More than a million subscribers are signing up every month since the 3G and 4G rollout in the country last year. These new users are generating more and more data traffic requiring rapid increases in available bandwidth.
Pakistan ended March 2015 with over 12.07 million 3G/4G subscribers, up from 10.34 million in February, according to data from Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA). Telenor led the 3G/4G market with over 3.53 million subscribers, followed by CMPak (2.95 million 3G/4G subscribers), Mobilink (2.86 million 3G subscribers), and Ufone (2.66 million 3G subscribers). Warid had 66,140 LTE network subscribers at 31 March.
Thousands of kilometers long fiber network is currently in place to deal with the growing domestic bandwidth demand. Several projects are underway to grow this network further.
Consumer Applications:
Young entrepreneurs are developing and launching mobile apps for everything from sports and entertainment to education, ride-sharing and e-commerce.
Pepper.pk has topped BlackBerry’s Appworld with their game Ninja Fruit Bash, TenPearls won Nokia and ATT Innovators 2011 contest through their game Animal 101, start-ups such as PiLabs also made their mark with mobile games such as ‘Field Garfield’ which is an official Garfield game.
A ride-sharing app called savaree, photo-sharing app Groopic and custom shoes app Markhor have been making news lately in Pakistan and overseas.
E-commerce is taking off in Pakistan with companies such as Home shopping, Shophive, daraz.pk and Symbios are becoming popular for online shopping.
Spurred by a favorable regulatory and technology environment, Pakistan is witnessing dramatic growth in mobile banking. Four out of five cellular mobile companies currently operating in Pakistan have launched m-money systems in partnership with financial institutions. The m-money market volume reached 153 million annual transactions worth US$ 6.2 billion as of 2013.
Industrial Applications:
Information and communications technology is being deployed in Pakistan's energy sector.
In addition to automatic reading of smart meters at the customer premises, smart meters have been installed with the support of USAID on incoming and outgoing feeders at all nine government-owned electric utilities. These will help move the system toward building of a smart national grid to better manage power generation, transmission and distribution in the country.
A captive power plant owned by Sapphire Group textile mill in Muridke Lahore is using hundreds embedded sensors and other digital instruments in power turbines, analyzing the data they collect, and using the information to improve the plant’s performance, optimize production and reduce unplanned downtime. US-based General Electric is paying for the sensors and the software. The company will be paid by splitting all benefits with Sapphire under a win-win scenario, according to GE Reports website.
Public Sector Applications:
IT projects ranging from automated meter reading and computerized land records management to online education and mobile banking are now at various stages of implementation across Pakistan. In a report released last year, the World Bank called these projects "unprecedented in the public sector in developing countries". The objective of these efforts is to reduce corruption, increase productivity and improve service delivery in both private and public sectors.
The Punjab government is deploying smartphone applications to crack down on absentee mobile government workers and their corrupt practices. As part of this project, the government employee must send his or her picture and a report of interaction with citizens along with GPS coordinates. For example, a agricultural pest control official required to visit farmers must file reports of his findings and actions in real time via a smartphone app.
An SMS soliciting feedback from citizens is sent out after each such visit or interaction. Responses from users are logged into a central database, and the data then analyzed and mapped. Call centers have also been trained to contact those who do not respond or are unable to read the text due to illiteracy. More than three million users of public services have so far been contacted since the summer of 2012, with both positive and negative feedback, according to the World Bank report. “Sir, we went to the hospital yesterday. They asked for 1500 rupees [in bribes]. We didn’t have the money so we left,” reads one of the reports about a hospital in Lahore, the provincial capital. The feedback is actively monitored by the office the Chief Secretary – the top civil servant in the province – to manage the performance of officials.
Summary:
Pakistan today stands at the threshold of soaring productivity and rising standards of living over the next several decades. The basic requirements for it to materialize are maintenance of peace and security and increasing investments in education, health care, energy and infrastructure.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
High-Speed Fiber Optic Connectivity in Pakistan
E-Commerce in Pakistan
Public Sector Apps in Pakistan
History of Educational Attainment in Pakistan
Online Education in Pakistan
Value Added Agriculture in Pakistan
Upwardly Mobile Pakistan
Comments
http://to.pbs.org/1EtWSwR via @NewsHour
The country (Pakistan) is also home to one of the world’s largest populations of young people.
Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro met with some innovators in the capital, Karachi, who are hoping that generation will fuel Pakistan’s rise to becoming a high-tech powerhouse.
The story is part of our Agents for Change series.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It’s one of Asia’s fastest growing tech start-up companies. This team of Web site developers is on a project for Coca-Cola.
UMAIR AZIZ, Tech Entrepreneur: So, this is going to go up in 27, 28 different markets.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Umair Aziz, the founder, can name-drop other blue-chip American clients.
UMAIR AZIZ: Sears. We have worked with Amazon in the past. We have worked with Microsoft. We worked with Intel.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: One secret to his success — actually, it’s pretty much a secret, period — is where this company, called Creative Chaos, is located, Karachi, the teeming and indeed chaotic commercial capital of Pakistan, a country beset by terrorist violence and political instability, a city that ranks as one of the world’s most violent.
UMAIR AZIZ: We don’t want to be out of the race by advertising that we’re based in Pakistan. There’s a very negative stigma associated with the country.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: So, prospective customers see nothing on Creative Chaos’ Web site about its location. Technically, it’s headquartered in San Francisco. They soon learn that almost all workers are in Pakistan. Once hired, Aziz says, his company has never been removed from a job.
UMAIR AZIZ: People in the U.S. really don’t know that there’s a world outside of Talibans, and there’s a world outside of, you know, everything that they hear on CNN and BBC all the time.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It’s in that world that Aziz carved out a profitable niche. Back in 2000, he was fresh out of college in Ohio and working for a Boston tech firm when he decided to return to his native Karachi.
UMAIR AZIZ: I knew there were hundreds and thousands of people like me who could join, you know, my organization. It was a risk, but I was betting on the talent. I was betting on people just like me.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: His is one of a handful of thriving Pakistani start-ups, designing Web sites, databases and applications for global clients. The tech sector is seeing a healthy 35 percent annual growth and Aziz expects his firm to grow fivefold by 2020.
In raw numbers, though, that talent pool could be a lot larger, says Jehan Ara, herself a tech entrepreneur.
JEHAN ARA, President, The Nest: The country is about 200 million people, and 70 percent of them below the age of 30. So it’s a very young population. So, the potential is amazing. How to channel that potential is something that we are all sort of thinking about.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Ara is leading an effort to scout that talent, trying to create what the technology business calls an ecosystem to foster creativity and new business.
This is The Nest. It’s one of a handful of so-called incubators that have been built in Pakistan. Here, 13 teams of techies chosen from more than a hundred applicants are working on what a panel of judges decided were promising business ideas.
JEHAN ARA: We are looking for young people who’ve developed a minimum viable product themselves while at home or at university and we know that they are committed to doing this. And then, once they get here, then we can help them further.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For Pakistan, this is a rare work environment, and not just because it’s offered for free to these would-be tech titans. They have reliable power, broadband and hardware many could not afford on their own, plus a connection to global resources from donors to the facility, including Google and Samsung
Internet Penetration 11%, Mobile phones owned by 144 million out of 196 million population. Only 6% own smartphones. Opportunity for strong growth with 3G, 4G rollout done in 2014.
http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends
As we told you yesterday, Telenor, in collaboration with Facebook today launched internet.org initiative in Pakistan, with which all Telenor customers — both prepaid and postpaid — will be able to use selected internet websites for free.
Telenor launched the program with 17 websites today, which are available for free unlimited browsing. However, external links, if any, will be charged as per usual tariffs.
Launch event or internet.org was attended by high-ups of Telenor Pakistan, including Michael Foley, CEO, Telenor, Irfan Wahab, Deputy CEO, Telenor Pakistan and Aslam Hayat Khan, VP, Telenor Pakistan.
Facebook officials, lead by Ime Archibong, Global Head for Strategic Partnerships at Facebook, in first of its kind representation from Facebook in Pakistan, were also present at the event.
Telenor has said that its internet.org initiative is aimed for first time internet users. Company has said that its currently not looking at any business proposition, instead the whole initiative is targeted to convert more users to internet.
Here is the list of websites that can be browsed for free:
Facebook, Telenor Mobile Portal, AccuWeather, Babycenter & MAMA, BBC News, Bing, ESPN Cricinfo, Facts for Life, Girl Effect, IlmkiDunya, Malaria No More, Mustakbil, OLX, Telenor News, UrduPoint Cooking and Wikipedia
Telenor users, in whatever city they are or whatever package they are on (postpaid included) can go to internet.org from their cell phones to access these websites. While accessing internet.org website, users will be presented a list of websites they can access for free.
Alternatively, if you are smartphone user, you can download internet.org app from your respective app store an use it.
Any usage with-in internet.org website (or the app) will be free.
Both 3G and 2G users can access internet.org for free, and there is no need to subscribe or activate anything. You can start browsing internet.org for free, right away!
http://propakistani.pk/2015/05/28/internet-org-launched-in-pakistan-browse-17-websites-for-free-on-telenor/
Punjab Government has launched Punjab Facilitation Center to provide different governmental services to citizens under one roof. In this regard, Punjab Government in collaboration with PITB (Punjab Information & Technology Board) has also released Asani Markaz app on Google Play Store to use digital technology for solving citizens’ problems with efficient and timely provision of services.
The services which Punjab Facilitation Center will integrate under one platform include
issuance of birth certificate
marriage certificate
death certificate
divorce certificate
character certificate
vehicle registration
token tax collection
vehicle transfer of ownership
FARD
learning driving licenses
traffic fine collection
domicile
Issuance of CNIC
NADRA E Sahulat and route permit
Asani Markaz app will guide public about the required documents for any specific service as mentioned above, its fee, payment procedure, timings and locations of facilitation centers. Additionally, an SMS will be sent to the citizens to inform them about the status of their application for a particular service.
This step to digitize the governmental services is taken to not only improve the governance but also make the maximum utilization of smartphones and recently introduced 3G & 4G services in the country. Furthermore, this step can help provide the service to citizens in timely manner, removing the agents/clerks in between who often take bribe to make tasks easier for certain citizens.
http://www.techjuice.pk/punjab-government-using-digital-solutions-for-citizens-problems/
The Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has made the ongoing wheat procurement at 376 government procurement centers efficient and transparent across the province.
PITB Chairman Dr Umar Saif said this in a meeting here on Friday.
He told that the PITB had developed a smartphone application for the Food Department Punjab that enabled digitization of farmers\' data approaching procurement centers to sell their wheat crop.
He said the application was saving record of Bardana (bags) to farmers and wheat procured at daily basis that could be accessed by higher authorities too.
The application also enabled farmers to send their feedback regarding their experience at procurement center.
http://www.thefrontierpost.com/article/304604/computerization-made-wheat-procurement-efficient/
Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) has released a mobile application for police or excise officers to identify any vehicle’s ownership with just one click on their smartphones. The step taken is said to be beneficial for the taxation department and citizens who forget to keep ownership documents with them.
Digitizing the functionalities of Excise Department will help in smooth running of its efforts to curb corruption and acquiring taxes in timely fashion. Moreover, the citizens will not face unpleasant situations of being narrated for documents in the middle of the road leading to time wastage and delay in routine tasks.
According to a recent post on PITB Facebook Page, the project “Integrated Command, Control, and Communication (IC3) Center” will be introducing smart monitoring of vehicles. It means that number plates of vehicles on the roads will be auto-recognized and registration numbers will be auto-saved in the database. This will help in maintaining a digital record for future smart analysis of movements of vehicles.
PITB has been introducing a lot of digital reformations for automating governmental functions lately.
http://www.techjuice.pk/pitb-digitizing-vehicle-operations-in-the-country/
The province of KP experienced the impacts of several wars in neighboring Afghanistan, and the local security situation has impacted local economic opportunities. This is especially true for KP’s youth, who now make up more than half of the province’s population. Young people made up the bulk of the audience of the Digital Youth Summit, and as they listened to panel sessions on the growing opportunities in the virtual economy, the importance of their location seemed to diminish: the enthusiasm of local youth has overcome the gloomy scenario often painted about Peshawar.
The global virtual economy is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Facilitated by widespread global connectivity and internet and lower costs of computers, the physical location of e-lancers (freelancers working through the internet), housed in traditional office spaces, is becoming less relevant. Instead, project teams can be made up of specialists located from Singapore to Nairobi, or San Francisco to Peshawar. And KP’s youth can also stand to benefit from these opportunities; with the right mix of technical skills, mentorship, and connectivity, the jobs become available.
----------
Another first was that DYS provided fertile ground for investment pitches: three investors announced a $65,000 investment (cash and in-kind) in Messiah (www.messiahapp.com), an application to connect victims of accidents or disasters to loved ones and early responders. The Messiah team is a group young twenty year old students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who first met at university in computer science departments and, encouraged by their professor, they applied to the Peshawar Civic Hackathon (www.facebook.com/kphacks), organized by the World Bank, Code for Pakistan (www.codeforpakistan.org) and the KP IT Board.
Thanks to the support from these three angel investors, the team will be heading to a 100 day accelerator program in Jordan, where they will gain valuable skills in business development and further refinement of their idea to pitch to venture capital investors.
Last but not the least, several investors identified successful freelancers and agreed to source strategic activities of their businesses to Peshawar (for more information about freelancing in Peshawar, you can read this blog post: http://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/how-online-work-changing-labor-force-participation-and-fostering-urban-youth-inclusion-pakistan).
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/05/14/pakistans-digital-youth-summit
The province of KP experienced the impacts of several wars in neighboring Afghanistan, and the local security situation has impacted local economic opportunities. This is especially true for KP’s youth, who now make up more than half of the province’s population. Young people made up the bulk of the audience of the Digital Youth Summit, and as they listened to panel sessions on the growing opportunities in the virtual economy, the importance of their location seemed to diminish: the enthusiasm of local youth has overcome the gloomy scenario often painted about Peshawar.
The global virtual economy is now a multi-billion dollar industry. Facilitated by widespread global connectivity and internet and lower costs of computers, the physical location of e-lancers (freelancers working through the internet), housed in traditional office spaces, is becoming less relevant. Instead, project teams can be made up of specialists located from Singapore to Nairobi, or San Francisco to Peshawar. And KP’s youth can also stand to benefit from these opportunities; with the right mix of technical skills, mentorship, and connectivity, the jobs become available.
----------
Another first was that DYS provided fertile ground for investment pitches: three investors announced a $65,000 investment (cash and in-kind) in Messiah (www.messiahapp.com), an application to connect victims of accidents or disasters to loved ones and early responders. The Messiah team is a group young twenty year old students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who first met at university in computer science departments and, encouraged by their professor, they applied to the Peshawar Civic Hackathon (www.facebook.com/kphacks), organized by the World Bank, Code for Pakistan (www.codeforpakistan.org) and the KP IT Board.
Thanks to the support from these three angel investors, the team will be heading to a 100 day accelerator program in Jordan, where they will gain valuable skills in business development and further refinement of their idea to pitch to venture capital investors.
Last but not the least, several investors identified successful freelancers and agreed to source strategic activities of their businesses to Peshawar (for more information about freelancing in Peshawar, you can read this blog post: http://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/how-online-work-changing-labor-force-participation-and-fostering-urban-youth-inclusion-pakistan).
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/05/14/pakistans-digital-youth-summit
https://www.techinasia.com/asian-startup-list-31-may-2015/ …
Similar to music detection service Shazam, Interacta is a mobile app senses the sound coming from the television content currently showing, which then triggers a response on the phone. In the case of audience-driven shows such as quiz competitions, users can view questions on the app and participate directly without being physically present in the broadcast studio.
BeautyHooked is currently a marketplace, linking salon owners and prospective customers, with the aim to become a white-label ecommerce platform, selling beauty and fashion products.
Per capita income is an
important economic indicator which is mostly
used to measure economic development of the
country and also make comparison of wellbeing
among various countries of the world. Per
Capita Income in dollar terms has registered a
significant growth of 9.25 percent in 2014-15 as
compared to 3.83 percent last year. The per
capita income in dollar terms has increased from
$ 1,333 in 2012-13 to $ 1,512 in 2014-15. The
main contributing factors, of this rapid increase
in per capita income include acceleration in real
GDP growth, relatively lower growth in
population and the consistent of Pak Rupee.
Investment and Savings: Investment indicators
in outgoing years have also recorded
improvement over the previous years. Total
investment has reached to 15.12 percent of GDP
as compared to 14.98 percent of GDP last years, while fixed investment is at 13.52 percent of
GDP against the 13.38 percent of GDP last year.
Private investment is recorded at 9.66 percent of
GDP as compared to 10.03 percent of GDP last
year. Total Investment which was recorded at
Rs. 3,756 billion in 2013-14 increased to Rs.
4,140 billion for 2014-15. It is evident that total
investment recorded a growth of 10.21 percent
in outgoing fiscal year, which is an indicator
that investment activities are taking place on fast
track and confidence of investors is improving
due to government policies. Public investment
has registered an impressive growth of 25.56
percent as compared to the growth 6.82 percent
last year which is an indicator that government
expenditure strategy is development oriented.
Public Sector Investment which was recorded at
Rs. 842 billion in 2013-14 is reported at Rs.
1,057 billion in 2014-15. This huge increase
reflected that Public investment as a percent of
GDP increased to 3.86 percent against 3.36
percent last year. National savings are very
important to maintain higher level of investment
which is a key determinant of economic growth.
The foreign savings are needed to finance
saving investment gap, reflects the current
account deficit in the balance of payments.
National savings have witnessed 14.5 percent of
GDP in outgoing fiscal year against 13.7 percent
last year. Domestic savings are recorded at 8.4
percent of GDP in 2014-15 as compared to 8.0
percent of GDP in last year. Net foreign
resource inflows are financing the saving
investment gap. Private investment recorded in
last year was Rs. 2,513 billion and it expanded
to Rs. 2,645 billion for the fiscal year 2014-15.
This increase in private investment is the
reflection that private investors are showing
confidence on government policies and situation
is improving, which will further encourage
economic agents to take maximum benefits
from emerging opportunities in the country.
http://www.finance.gov.pk/survey/chapters_15/Overview_of_the_Economy.pdf
The government recently raised $1.02 billion (Dh3.7 billion) by selling 609 million of its remaining government shares in Habib Bank, the country’s largest bank.
The sale is part of Pakistan’s wider plans to privatise 68 public companies, including 10 banks. While most of the companies are making losses, Habib Bank is profitable and growing. In March, the bank announced that it had signed an agreement with Barclays Bank for the acquisition of the its banking business in Pakistan.
Analysts say China’s recent announcement big investments in Pakistan will be a big boost to the economy and the banking sector. China pledged $45 billion for roads, ports and power plants when President Xi Jinping visited Pakistan last month. The planned investment, 28 times more than the foreign direct investment Pakistan received in the year ended June, will spur investment activity and help ease the country’s growing energy shortage, Moody’s said in a recent report.
As per the agreement, both Pakistan and China will allow banks to open branches in each other’s country. Initially, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Habib Bank are expected to open branches in China, with significant opportunities likely to be available in the remittance business.
Pakistan took a $6.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund in 2013 to avert a balance-of-payments crisis and has cleared six programme reviews. Oil prices have fallen 38 per cent over the past year, lowering Pakistan’s import bill, easing price pressures and giving the central bank room to cut interest rates.
To further improve market discipline and enhance assessment of the financial sector, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has evaluated and identified the ‘encouraged’ set of financial services institutes (FSIs). As of end-December 2014, asset quality has slightly improved, with a decline in non-performing loan (NPL) ratio to 12.3 per cent and net NPLs to net loans ratio falling to 2.7 per cent.
The risk to banking system seems to be negligible, as they encompass only 1.39 per cent of banking system assets. The number of Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) non-compliant banks has fallen from three to two due to capital injections. The combined CAR shortfall for two non-compliant private banks has decreased by Rs3.3 billion (Dh118 million) over the quarter to Rs7.96 billion (less than 0.03 per cent of gross domestic product) as of end December 2014.
http://gulfnews.com/business/sectors/banking/pakistan-privatisation-and-fdi-to-boost-banks-1.1531157
Pakistani universities have been producing over half a million graduates every year since 2010, according to HEC data. The number of university graduates in Pakistan increased from 380,773 in 2005-6 to 493,993 in 2008-09. This figure is growing with rising enrollment and contributing to Pakistan's growing human capital.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2015/07/pakistans-rising-college-enrollment-and.html
KARACHI:
In a strong sign that the rollout of mobile broadband technology – third and fourth generation (3G and 4G) networks – is connecting more Pakistanis to the cyber world, the country’s internet subscriptions increased by a staggering 344% to almost 17 million in fiscal year (FY) 2015, according to statistics released by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The ‘more than threefold’ increase translates to the highest growth in the country’s broadband subscriptions ever witnessed by the telecom sector in a year. The number of internet subscriptions increased from a meagre 3.8 million as of June 30, 2014 to 16.9 million at the end of FY2015.
A further breakdown of data shows that 13.5 million or 80% of the total internet subscriptions come from mobile broadband category (3G and 4G users), which means almost all of this growth came as a result of the last year’s spectrum auction for high-speed portable internet.
“It only proves that it was a pent-up demand of the past many years,” Information and Communications Technology expert Parvez Iftikhar said of the phenomenal growth in the country’s internet subscriptions. “The spectrum auction should have been held in 2008 but we kept delaying it.
“The percentage may be lower next year but I don’t see this growth slowing down,” Iftikhar said. “The service providers are still in the process of rolling out their 3G and 4G network and will continue their marketing campaigns for quite some time.”
While broadband penetration rate increased dramatically, growth of other technologies remained almost stagnant. The second and third categories were DSL and EvDO technologies representing 1.5 million and 1.3 million in the total internet subscriptions respectively. The number of EvDO subscriptions decreased by 25% from 1.8 million, its highest ever as of FY14.
The fixed-line broadband segment didn’t attract any new investment, according to Iftikhar. Nobody really invested in metro fibre or fibre-to-the-home cable networks, he said. “The government needs to make drastic reforms in fixed-line broadband because there is still a lot of potential for growth in this area.”
The fixed local line (landline phones) segment too seems to be losing presence in the telecom industry. The data for fixed-line local telephone subscribers, which totalled to three million at the end of FY13 and increased slightly to 3.2 million in FY14, wasn’t updated – an indication the growth of this segment has stagnated, if not declining.
The cellular mobile operators (CMOs)’ overall user base decreased by 18% to 114.7 million subscribers in the same period (FY2015) compared to a near-highest of 139.9 million subscribers as of June 30, 2014.
The data cleaning exercise brought down annual cellular mobile tele-density from a peak of 76.5% in FY14 to 61% at end of June this year.
Each one weighs nearly 400 tons, as much as two really big blue whales. Each one will cover thousands of miles by sea and land from the place of their birth in Belfort, France, to the farming town of Bhikki in Pakistan’s Punjab province. They are still fairly unknown, but once they reach their destination, they will affect millions of lives.
The giants that will be making their way to Asia are a pair of GE’s air-cooled 9HA gas turbines, the largest and most efficient gas turbines on the planet today. They’re capable of delivering greater than 61 percent efficiency – once the power-generation equivalent of running a four-minute mile – when used in a combined cycle configuration with steam turbines. They will become the beating heart of the Bhikki Combined Cycle Power electricity generation plant that’s being built by China’s Harbin Electric International for Punjab government’s Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power Ltd. utility.
The new power plant will be a key weapon in Pakistan’s arsenal to roll back crippling electricity shortages that have plagued the country for years. “After a while you just have to find ways to work around the load-shedding,” says Muniza Junaid, a biosciences research associate who works at a leading Pakistani university. “It’s ironic. On the one hand, I work in one of the most advanced laboratories in the country, but on the other I can’t even heat up my dinner or run my washing machine when I want to.”
“Load-shedding” is the term locals commonly use to refer to electricity shortages. For many Pakistanis it’s a critical piece of information that determines how they plan their days, just like the weather forecast in the U.S. or Europe. Load-shedding gets ubiquitous in the sweltering summer heat, when power shortages often exceed 12 hours a day. “I don’t think you can understand what that’s like unless you’ve experienced it for yourself,” Muniza says.
Here’s what it looks like in numbers: Pakistan’s peak demand and supply gap hovers around 5 gigawatts, enough power to serve some 30 million local homes. The World Bank reported in its 2013 Enterprise Survey that more than 45 percent of local businesses identified electricity shortages as the main obstacle to doing business. The estimated value lost due to power outages tops 22 percent of annual sales.
No wonder fixing the power shortage is one of the top government priorities and a key to boosting the economy and improving the quality of life. The Bhikki plant will be the first power installation to use the turbines in the Middle East, and one of Pakistan’s most efficient. “Everything about this project is going to be larger than life – the world’s largest gas turbine, powering one of the region’s most efficient power plants, generating electricity for millions of households, as well as industry,” says Sardar Haider Khan, the local lead for GE Power & Water’s power generation products business.
The 9HA is the result of a $2 billion investment by Power & Water. It uses technology originally developed for supersonic jet engines. GE refers to this practice of sharing knowledge among different businesses the GE Store.
The turbine can reach full load in a mere 10 minutes – just a little longer than a plane getting ready to take off – and also offers the flexibility to run on a range of gas and liquid fuels. This is critical for fuel-importing countries such as Pakistan.
The two units at Bhikki will be operated on imported “re-gasified” liquefied natural gas (RLNG), but will be able to use substitute fuels if price or availability of RLNG starts to fluctuate.
Together, they will add more than 1.1 GW to the national grid by 2017 – the equivalent power needed to supply more than six million Pakistani homes. And that is a feat worthy of giants.
GE has announced that it’s going to invest $50 million in Pakistan to set up a first of its kind technology and Digital Center in Pakistan. The Center will introduce its Industrial Internet solutions for its partners to support them in accelerating productivity and operational efficiency.
The Center will be grounds for customer and developer collaboration on development of software solutions and Industrial Internet applications and will deliver training to build the skills of Pakistan’s technical and skilled professionals.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of GE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt’s visit.
The new GE Pakistan Technology and Digital Center also marks GE’s focus investment in local manufacturing and will serve as proof of GE’s commitment to building local talent, lean manufacturing capability and indigenization of technology.
Nabil Habayeb, GE’s President and CEO for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey said GE is at the cutting edge of digital innovation, having transformed their businesses to leverage the potential for growth offered by the digital industrial economy.
The meshing of big data and advanced analytics with heavy machinery, which we call as Industrial Internet, is today a game changer for businesses world-wide. With the new investments, GE is underlining its commitment to bring greater digitization that will help enhance the operational efficiency and productivity of partners in the country, he said.
GE harnesses the power of the Industrial Internet and delivers value to its customers via Asset Performance Management (APM), a category of software and technology that optimizes machines and operations to maximize business performance across industries including aviation, manufacturing, energy, transportation and healthcare.
GE’s Industrial Internet applications and solutions are powered by Predix, the world’s first and only cloud-based operating system built exclusively for industry. GE has also unveiled its dedicated environment for industrial developers, Predix.io, which will lay the foundation for the world’s first and largest marketplace for industrial applications.
Pakistan is already at the vanguard in embracing Industrial Internet solutions by GE. A great example is the integration of Predix by Sapphire Electric Company Limited. It drives a suite of APM applications which allows industrial assets from any vintage or vendor to talk seamlessly with each other in a secure manner and uses analytics to deliver outcomes for our customers.
Pakistan’s young and vibrant talent pool of software professionals is uniquely positioned to leverage the opportunity provided by GE’s Industrial Internet using Predix.io.
Besides, GE has two major areas for this investments plan including local manufacturing sector and clean energy projects.
President Mamnoon Hussain, speaking at the second annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China, on Wednesday, said Pakistan is pursuing a vision of accelerated digitisation in order to transform itself into a knowledge-based economy, Radio Pakistan reported.
Our focus remains on development of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, he said, with special emphasis on serving marginalised segments of society and bridging the digital divide.
Mamnoon said the government realises the potential of ICT for socio-economic growth, and considered it a key enabler to achieve self-sufficiency, transparency, good governance and empowerment of the people.
The information revolution has fundamentally altered perceptions of reality, time and space, Mamnoon said, adding that Information Technology is rapidly reshaping identities, geo-politics and the security dynamics of the 21st century, as well as other paradigms.
The conference was held in the southeastern city of Wuzhen in Zhejiang province, where Chinese President Xi Jinping once was provincial party secretary. It was organised by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Cabinet agency that enforces internet controls.
Organisers said some 2,000 people were due to attend, including representatives of Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Lenovo Group and Baidu Inc and officials from Russia and Kazakhstan.
'Cyberspace shouldn't be a battlefield'
Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing the conference, called for governments to cooperate in regulating Internet use and fighting crime and terrorism online, stepping up efforts to promote controls that activists complain stifle free expression.
Xi's government operates extensive Internet monitoring and censorship and has tightened controls since he came to power in 2013.
The Chinese president called for creating a global "governance system" to reflect the "wishes and interests of all countries".
He said that would help fight online crime and terrorism and promote "healthy development" of the Internet.
Xi's comments reflect the growing assertiveness of China's ruling Communist Party in promoting its own vision for how to regulate global finance, technology, news media and other matters.
"Cyberspace shouldn't be a battlefield," Xi said. "There should be no double standards in safeguarding network security."
On Wednesday, Xi also called on other governments to respect "network sovereignty", a reference to efforts by leaders of China, Russia, Iran and some other nations to enforce controls over once-borderless cyberspace.
At last year's Wuzhen conference, organisers tried unsuccessfully to persuade global Internet companies to endorse a call for the world community to "respect Internet sovereignty" and "spread positive energy".
World famous social-networking website Facebook joins hands with telecom company Zong to launch intresting service for customer.
According to ProPakistani.com, Zong says that more people in Pakistan will have access to a range of free basic service like news, health, travel, local jobs, sports, education, services for women and entertainment via the freebasics.com website and mobile application.
Free Basics is available to more than one billion people across Asia, Africa and Latin America. Previously, Telenor was only operator in Pakistan to offer Free Basics to its customers.
Speaking on the launch, Director Marketing Zong Zhang Peng said, ” We are excited to make the Internet available to millions of people in Pakistan through the launch of Free Basics by Facebook. This initiative will promote the use of the Internet and help enrich people’s lives with new opportunities.”
Zong customers (Prepaid and Postpaid) will be able to receive free access to both Facebook and Free Basic services respectively. There is no subscription required for these services and will be available by default to all Zong subscriber.
In Pakistan, electricity distributor Multan Electric Power Company (Mepco) has this week announced completion of a smart grid project in Multan, Punjab province.
According to local media, the USAID-funded project to upgrade Multan's regional power supply system has to date minimised the utility’s technical losses and unscheduled load shedding.
Addressing journalists during a press conference, Mepco’s chief executive Fazalullah Durrani said beside establishing a new power distribution control centre, 48,000 capacitors installed on tube-wells has helped the utility in improving power supply saving 70MW and energy worth Rs2 billion (US$18.9 million).
Mr Durrani added that the 40,000 smart meters installed to residential and industrial consumers in Multan, Vehari and Khanewal cities under the Rs7.3 million (US$69,172) worth project launched in 2010, have helped to improve the utility's billing system.
Mepco has also installed single phase smart transformers in congested areas of Multan and replaced bare-conductor LT lines with 600km of aerial bundled cables to improve power supply and public safety, reported Business Recorder.
Smart grid funding
The development follows a series of agreements between Pakistan and international institutions to upgrade utilities grids.
Lat week, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed two contracts with the government of Pakistan for combined loan assistance of US$800 million to boost the country’s power sector.
According to the ADB, the first contract worth US$400 million will fund the Power Distribution Enhancement Investment Program aimed at the installation of an advanced metering infrastructure system for power distribution companies across Pakistan.
Metering & Smart Energy International reported, that the AMI development programme will improve utilities’ load management and reduce non-revenue losses.
The distribution enhancement program will be carried out in phases, with each phase comprising installation of smart meters, computerised customer billing and information systems of two to three distribution companies in Pakistan’s major cities, and industrial and commercial hubs.
The other US$400 million loan will be streamed towards funding Pakistan’s Sustainable Energy Sector Reform Programme supporting ongoing policy reforms to build an affordable, efficient and secure energy sector.
Commenting on the development, ADB’s country director for Pakistan, Werner E. Liepach, said: “With demand for electricity outpacing supply inefficient and inadequate transmission and distribution systems are key bottlenecks in the development of the energy sector that is stifling growth and threatens social strife.”
Ricult is an endeavor by a US-based start-up founded by 4 MIT and 1 Harvard graduates. They help smallholder farmers (< 10 acres holding) reduce information asymmetry and work their way out of poverty to become more impactful economic actors. At the heart of their concept is a virtual marketplace which allows farmers to procure agriculture inputs (seed, fertilizers, pesticides etc.), access interest-free/low interest based loans transparently and sell their produce directly to buyers (processing plants, corporate organizations etc.) directly from the Ricult marketplace.
Founders
Usman Javaid, (CEO) is an MIT alumnus with 15 years of experience in Telecom, Mobile Banking, Mobile Agriculture in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Jonathan Stoller, the CTO pursued his Masters in Computer Science from MIT and worked for 4 years with Google, Microsoft, Dow Jones. Aukrit Unahalekhaka handles the product at Ricult is also an MIT alumnus belongs to a family of farmers in Thailand. He worked with Accenture & Cisco in the US before taking the entrepreneurial plunge. Philip Huppe who takes care of Social Development is a Harvard alumnus. He worked with World Relief, Palo Alto Networks, and Accenture before joining hands with MIT alumni to start-up!
PROCESS STORY:
Their first pilot for 400 farmers is underway in Kasur area of Pakistan, where they have signed up leading agriculture organizations to supply products on the Ricult Marketplace. “The idea is to validate certain hypotheses regarding technology adoption, impact on farm profitability, technology sustainability and the reaction of local middlemen. Based on the results of the pilot, we plan to commercially launch in Pakistan, followed by China, Thailand, and Slovenia,” says the Harvard graduate.
The marketplace connects farmers to farm input sellers; farm produce buyers, bank creditors, insurers, vetinary services, farm advisory services and everything that can help them have better farming results. “But this is not just a marketplace for farmers. We believe in building strong relationships with our local farmers and ensuring that they have easy access to bigger markets, quality products, enhanced profitability and hence a better future,” says Usman.
We asked the founders if they doubted what they were doing, and they said, “Oh yes, many times you have doubts about what you are doing. Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster of emotions – it’s not for the weak hearted nor is it for the people who are impatient for results. You have to bide your time, one step at a time and take each day as it comes.”
All the co-founders started up with a passion for solving difficult social problems through the use of technology. “This is how all of us came together and this is what binds us as a team. We like solving hard but real problems that would make the world a better place,” says Usman. They are partnering with various multinational and local organizations to facilitate the growth of Ricult. Currently a team of 10 people, the start-up is not funded.
As a message for future entrepreneurs, Jonathan says, “Live your passion and your dreams. Be focused and consistent, and you will reach your destination.”
GE (NYSE:GE) has signed a contract with Hubco to provide its digital industrial solutions for the 1,292-megawatt (MW) Hubco power plant in Baluchistan, Pakistan. Commissioned in 1997, the plant operates four 323-MW generating units. Additionally, it’s the largest independent steam power plant in Pakistan and exports power to the national grid.
“GE’s digital solutions are a game changer for the energy sector, and we are happy to be working with them,” said Khalid Mansoor, CEO of Hubco. “Once implemented at the Hubco Power Plant, these solutions will help us to enhance the reliability of our operations.”
Powered by Predix*, GE’s cloud-based operating system built exclusively for industry, GE’s Digital Power Plant includes a suite of software solutions that can enable Hubco’s power plant operators to analyze and monitor operations across all touchpoints in real time and help identify any maintenance issues ahead of time, leading to greater asset uptime and reduced unplanned downtime.
The Baluchistan Hubco power plant is equipped entirely with non-GE equipment, demonstrating the power of Predix to operate across different types of original equipment manufacturers.
“Energy is increasingly becoming digital, and we have been proud to support Pakistan’s energy sector for more than 50 years with both hardware and software solutions,” said Steve Bolze, president and CEO of GE Power. “This agreement with Hubco marks the sixth deployment of our advanced digital industrial solutions in the country, underscoring our commitment to provide Pakistan with our latest technology.”
Industry experts estimate that between now and 2025 there is $1.3 trillion in value creation for companies that embrace digitization and $90 billion is expected to be invested in the energy industry’s digitization by 2020.
“Pakistan is a leader in adopting new technologies to generate more power,” said Ganesh Bell, chief digital officer, GE Power. “This deployment of GE’s digital industrial solutions marks another chapter in our relationship with the country to deliver better productivity and outcomes for our customers.”
https://www.thenews.com.pk/amp/222660-PITB-chairman-for-IT-aided-governance-reforms
Sharing some of the IT-enabled reforms in Punjab, the PITB chairman said that two major sectors, Police and Provincial Revenue Department, were focused to change the Thana and Pitwari culture in Punjab. This was an uphill task as both systems were given by the British government in the United India to rule here.
The British rulers had empowered Patwari to the extent that it had played with the Fard (document of ownership of rural land) by establishing a parallel economy which need to be broken scientifically. The Fard is an important document for every transaction between the two parties.
Similarly, 26 registers are maintained in a police station and registration of an FIR is in the first register. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC), once an FIR is registered the police have to produce the accused and recovery from him before a court. Thus it empowers the police Moharar that he can register a fake FIR.
These are the issues which need to be understood first before IT enabled reforms to change the Thana and Pitwari culture in Punjab.
Dr Saif said that in land revenue reforms, 24,800 mozaajat (rural land units) have been computerised. This has enabled the public to get E-Fard conveniently. Secondly, Grawadri and Miswai are two other areas of land revenue reforms. The reforms in the sector have also helped the government a lot in the last wheat procurement campaign.
The digital data disclosed that thousands of acres of land were wrongly declared as wheat growing area while no such land existed but the middlemen were selling wheat to government on this land purchased from farmers at lower price.
Furthermore, e-stamp was introduced which increased the land revenue by 30 percent in one fiscal year which depicted that fake stamp papers were being sold and used in land transactions in Punjab....
To change the Thana culture, the PITB first established their front desks in police stations where PITB staff operates to register a complaint while the CPO, CCPO and other top officials in the evening decide whether an FIR should be registered on the complaint or not. This was the step was initiated to change police station culture. Once a complaint is registered in electronic system of the police, the person responsible has to decide about disposal of it within next 72 hours, either by giving a solid justification or registering an FIR on the complaint and forwarding it for further proceedings, Dr Saif said. He said over 1.1 million complaints had been registered in the system so far. He said 850,000 FIRs had been registered using the system.
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On student enrolment in schools and "ghost" teachers, Dr Saif said that there was not a single "ghost" teacher in Punjab. ‘Anyone can check school data anytime at www.open.punjab.gov.pk where real time live data of schools' students and teachers' attendance and facilities of schools were updated’, he said. Furthermore, if a school shows zero attendance of student or teacher, the deputy commissioner of that area is asked to address the issue. Same system is also replicated in Sindh but, due to administrative issues there, the results were not the same as achieved in Punjab. In Punjab, various disciplinary actions are being taken against the teachers on absence, whereas, no such actions so far have been possible in Sindh yet, he disclosed.
Similarly, in total 143 Tehsil Headquarters Hospital (THQs) and District Headquarters Hospitals, 786 biometric devices were installed for doctors and allied staff's attendance which increased the attendance from 30 percent to 51 percent. Now the PITB daily makes duty roster and it was pasted in the DHQ and THQ hospitals. Now the attendance has reached 83 percent from 51 percent.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1350151
It is still beyond farmer Mohammad Ashraf’s comprehension that people in Islamabad can predict that it will rain in the next two days in his village. He is also astonished that, based on this prediction, they can tell him how much he should water his rice and sugarcane plantations.
“I marvel at this science of being able to predict something that is unknown and in God’s hands,” says the 36-year-old farmer.
Every Friday, he reads the simple Urdu messages sent to his phone, saying things like: “Dear farmer friend, this is to inform you that between 21 and 28 July 2017 in your area (Bahawalnagar) the crops used this much water (cotton 1.6 inch, sugarcane 1.7 inch). Next week, rain is predicted in some parts of your region. Therefore please water your crops accordingly.”
The text messages are sent by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), a government agency that carries out water research. Ashraf would be even more flabbergasted if he knew the scientists get this information from space.
“Using satellites and models that take the pulse of the earth, we can identify the amount of water a given crop requires at a specific location and a specific time,” says Faisal Hossain, head of the Sustainability, Satellites, Water, and Environment (SASWE) research group at the University of Washington which developed the programme for, “estimating crop water requirement in a cost effective and sustainable manner for the whole country”.
Ashraf, who lives in Hayatpur in Punjab’s Sargodha district, now takes these messages seriously.
Five years ago, he met water experts from the PCRWR who were doing a field survey to explore how to improve groundwater conservation and crop yield.
During their surveys, the experts found that farmers were over-watering their crops.
They installed a water meter on Ashraf’s 12-acre farm and explained that if the arrow turned towards the green on the dial, it meant that his land had enough water.
When the arrow turned towards the red mark, it was time to water.
“Like every farmer in the village, I did not believe them. We have been farming for generations and know what works and what doesn’t,” Ashraf told The Third Pole.
But the following year, he decided to only water his field when the marker pointed towards the red.
That season he produced more, spent less on diesel to run the tubewell, and made more profit than anyone in the village.
“The others watered their sugarcane fields three times more than I did and not only did my plants grow taller, I had less disease in my crop than the rest.”
Ashraf says that an acre of his land yielded 1,000 maunds (1 maund = 37 kilogrammes) of sugarcane. Each maund sold for Rs180. “I sold my crop for Rs180,000 while most villagers could only sell between Rs80,000 and 100,000.
Now a convert, he says he plans heed to every word from PCRWR. “I’d say that 99 per cent of the time they are right on the mark about rain,” he says.
Since last year, the PCRWR has sent weekly information to farmers like Ashraf through text messages, telling them how much water their crops need.
They also send them weather forecasts.
“We started with 700 farmers in April 2016, all across Pakistan, and since January this year the number of farmers receiving the messages has increased to 10,000,” says Ahmed Zeeshan Bhatti, deputy director of PCRWR.
The agency has submitted a proposal to some organisations to support it in improving the advice and expanding the service to 100,000 farmers.
“We carried out a survey to gauge the response of the farmers to our advice and the feedback was encouraging,” he says.
Between 25 and 30 farmers would call back immediately for further information.
“Our initial telephone survey revealed that farmers are saving almost 40 per cent of water by rationing irrigation,” he says, adding that the service is saving around 250 million cubic metres of irrigation water per year.
https://www.researchsnipers.com/broadband-users-pakistan-including-3g-4g-crossed-44-32-million/
The majority of contributors to this growth are mobile internet users via 3G and 4G services. These users have increased to 41.73 million by May 2017.
DSL subscribers in the country remain around 1.531 million. HFC, WiMAX, FTTH and EvDo subscribers are 52,096, 0.171 million, 42,611and 0.786 million respectively. Users using other internet technologies are around 9264. As mobile broadband services are portable this has led to huge growth in 3G/4G industry and it is expected to grow further in years to come.
Jazz is the biggest mobile phone operator in the country and it remains on top in supplying broadband services in Pakistan. It has 12.5 million 3G users and 0.895 4G users. As per a senior analyst the crucial point to ensure market dominance is being innovative and investing continuously to bring something new to the market. He said, “We aim to seamlessly deliver not only the best 3G/4G and voice services, but also constantly improve our customer care, and product lines.”
The partnership will enable the state-owned National Telecommunication Corporation to support the Pakistani government's digital transformation initiatives.
Tas Bindi
By Tas Bindi | September 26, 2017 -- 23:10 GMT (16:10 PDT) | Topic: Innovation
http://www.zdnet.com/article/vmware-partners-with-ntc-to-support-digital-pakistan-initiative/
VMware has signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan's National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) to "drive digital transformation within the public sector" as part of the government's Digital Pakistan initiative.
Under the agreement, the state-owned corporation -- which inaugurated Pakistan's first datacentre in Islamabad in August last year and offers a range of ICT services including broadband, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS -- will be able to use VMware's solutions to "modernise" existing IT infrastructure, simplify IT management, decrease operational and ownership costs, "strengthen" the availability and security of critical applications, and speed up network expansion to underserved districts, NTC said.
The corporation said these intended outcomes will be enabled through the use of VMware Cloud Provider Program, VMware vSphere with Operations Management, VMware vCloud Director, and VMware Site Recovery Manager.
"We are determined to better serve the public by strengthening IT and telecommunications support to all government institutions. With the right infrastructure together with the best solutions, we can better provision and provide for market trends now and in the future to drive Pakistan's digital transformation," Viqar Rashid Khan, managing director at NTC, said in a statement.
The Pakistani government claims it is the first nation in South Asia to move to an e-governance model as internet penetration in the nation rises. According to the government, which cited statistics from Hootsuite, the number of internet users in Pakistan increased by 20 percent in 2016, double the global average growth rate. Three in four internet users in the nation are accessing the internet through their mobile phones, compared to 27 percent via desktops.
"The government's bold step towards a fully e-government structure is testament to the powerful benefits from a software-defined approach to IT. By implementing a ubiquitous IT architectural plan that cuts across all levels of compute, network, storage, clouds and devices, NTC stands to benefit from the scalability, agility, and security required to enable Pakistan to truly succeed in the digital era," Adrian Hia, general manager of Nascent Markets & Vietnam at VMware, said in a statement.
VMware, which has operated in Pakistan for three years, also recently signed an agreement with Meezan Bank, Pakistan's largest Islamic bank, to "modernise" the bank's IT infrastructure across more than 500 branches in nearly 150 cities in Pakistan.
Through its partnership with VMware, the bank aims to increase the performance and efficiency of IT resources through virtualisation, speed up the delivery of solutions via private clouds, and improve the availability of critical applications.
Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez's picture
SUBMITTED BY EDE IJJASZ-VASQUEZ
https://blogs.worldbank.org/category/countries/pakistan
Land is an essential resource for sustainable development. From large cities to remote villages, land remains one of the most important assets for many people, especially the poor.
Worldwide, only 3 out of 10 people have a legally registered title to their land. Difficulties associated with land administration and registration systems, together with inequalities of land distribution and tenure insecurity, often hinder social and economic development.
In Pakistan, the province of Punjab faced such a challenge. For many rural landowners in the province, land titles weren’t easily accessible, nor were they properly managed and protected. To tackle the land administration challenge, the government of Punjab turned to an innovative solution: they used digital technology to modernize its old, inefficient paper-based land administration system.
Supported by the World Bank, the Punjab Land Records Management and Information Systems (LRMIS) project turned out to be one of the success stories for the province of Punjab. Within just five years, Punjab scanned 10 million pages of old records, digitized over 55 million landowners’ records—98% of all records—across the province, and made all rural land title information available online 24/7 for landowners.
Prior to the project, it would take up to two months to complete a land transaction in Punjab. Today, it takes a rural Punjab resident only 50 minutes to receive a digitally recorded, legally registered land title from one of the 144 newly created land record offices across all 36 districts of the province. This has helped the province of Punjab enhance the transparency of land administration while securing land rights for its people, including women farmers who were denied their land rights in the old system.
In this video, World Bank Senior Director Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez (@Ede_WBG) and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Director General of Punjab Land Records Authority, discuss in detail the past, present, and future of the Punjab LRMIS project.
Going forward, the government of Punjab plans to expand digital land record management to its urban areas. Cities and villages alike in other countries can also learn from this successful project and innovative approach to land administration
https://pakobserver.net/dastgir-inaugurates-advanced-metering-infrastructure-at-iesco/
The Federal Minister for Energy Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan inaugurated the first-ever data centre of Pakistan for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) at the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO).
“State-of-the-art services will be provided to electricity consumers as per their requirements.
Elimination of theft, further improvement in electricity delivery and not transferring the burden of electricity theft to consumers by obtaining accurate data is our top priority,” the minister said while inaugurating the data centre.
The minister further said that the energy industry has always needed modern technology and the government has started the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in all power distribution companies (Discos) in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
IESCO’s AMI is a big project of Pakistan, he said, adding that the federal government is mulling shifting the public buildings from grid to solar power. “Various solar projects are underway in different parts of the country for getting low-cost electricity; it will be easier for Pakistan to progress through it.”
The minister said he had issued instructions to all Discos to shift the meters of commercial, agricultural, and bulk consumers as well as high-loss feeders and transformers to AMI meters. C
hairman Board of Directors of IESCO Engineer Qamar-ul-Islam Raja said the completion of this project will further increase the sale of electricity and timely recovery of dues would boost the financial position.
The establishment of an operational centre and a modern metering lab is also a part of this project, which will further improve the operational efficiency of IESCO, he said.
Speaking at the event, IESCO Chief Executive Officer, Dr Muhammad Amjad Khan, said this project will provide the company with accurate information and boost consumers’ confidence. He also said that apart from IESCO’s head- office, a backup data centre will be set up in Gujar Khan to deal with any emergency.