The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIT&T), the leading ministry for implementing the digital Pakistan framework, has been left out of the top ten ministries and ranked fifteenth in the rewarding performance report issued by the Government of Pakistan.
It earned a huge revenue over the last three years but also made different policies and bills for the implementation of the framework for ‘Digital Pakistan’ but was not among the top ten ministries despite its achievements.
Ministry officials said that it had initiated more than 49 broadband projects worth Rs. 50 billion in the far-flung areas of the country to improve connectivity over the last three years besides earning more than 270 billion revenues.
The MoIT&T successfully conducted an auction for spectrum in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and auction of additional spectrum. It earned $30.3 million through the spectrum auction in AJK and GB, and also earned $279 million from the auction of additional spectrum.
Furthermore, the ministry earned $50 crores by renewing the licenses of major three companies – Telenor, Warid, and Ufone. It also deposited 45 billion to the government by renewing the license of the major telecom operator Jazz. IT exports have surged greatly and reached $3 billion for the first time in the history of Pakistan. The ministry also provided freelancing training to a million youngsters in the country.
According to the MoIT&T, freelancers have earned export revenue of $216.788 million during the first half of the current financial year at a growth rate of 16.74 percent as compared to last year’s $185.698 million. 3G 4G users have reached 108 million and cellular subscribers have reached 189 million.
The MoIT&T devised social media rules, the right of way policy, the cloud-first policy, the cyber security policy, the personal data protection bill, the smartphones preparation policy, and the NITB bill in the last three years as well.
In the light of these achievements, its officials are shocked by the government’s decision to forego their division among the top ten ministries. Thet told ProPakistani that the ministry had developed plans and policies that will create long-term impacts, which may be the reason for the ranking, because these steps have a lower day-to-day impact but are very helpful in determining the way towards the framework for digital Pakistan framework.
