Foreign investment in Pak IT sector rises to $5.138b

Foreign investment in Pakistan’s industry of Information Technology has risen to $5.138 billion.

According to Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA), a large portion of this investment inflow has been coming from foreign investors ranging from the UAE to Egypt, the US and China, reported Khaleej Times.

The amount includes investment made between Fiscal Year 2010-15. A good year for investment was FY 2014, when the amount was $1,815.6 million and $851.6 million in FY 2015, in the wake of the 3G and 4G launch.

According to the report, Khurrum Mehran, director of the PTA said that as a result of this launch, the number of its subscribers rose to 26 million and the broadband penetration has gone up from less than three per cent to 15 per cent by now.

While Anusha Rehman, Minister of State for the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom has said that introduction of 3G and 4G mobile broadband has brought the telecom sector at par with developed countries in terms of modern telecom services.

She was of the view that this would be a major input in the economy to enhance the country’s annual GDP. She hoped that more investment would be brought to the country on a fast-track basis.

The IT Ministry has been advised to go all out for expanding this sector. The urgency to develop this sector is highlighted by latest World Bank studies which show that a 10 per cent expansion in high speed Internet connections boosts annual GDP growth by 1.38 per cent.

In light of this, the present exponential rise in mobile broadband users is expected to make a very positive impact on Pakistan’s economic growth.

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom reports that IT exports were up 41 per cent in FY-2015 as compared to FY-2014.

The report indicates that in the cellular mobile sector, the country had 114.7 million subscribers at end-June 2015. The average revenue per user of the cellular segment increased to Rs 440 during FY-2015 compared to Rs 432 in FY-2014.