"During 2013 to 2019, the telecom sector generated around $19 billion, where $5.4 billion were deposited into the national exchequer," said Member Telecom Mudassar Hussain while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication. Further, the revenue of telecom sector stood at Rs 480 billion in 2018.
The committee met with Ali Khan Jadoon in the chair here on Wednesday, where it was briefed on working and performance of the ministry and its attached departments.
Briefing the committee, the member telecom said that spectrum licence of three mobile operators are going to expire in 2019 including two in May and one in October. The government is expecting to generate around $1.3 billion of revenue from the renewal of these licences.
Minister for IT Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that Pakistan is producing around 25,000 IT graduates every year while only 3,000 get jobs. Other regional countries have left Pakistan far behind in the IT education. He further said that the government is considering to establish a regulatory authority on IT education, while saying that setting a right direction is imperative.
Siddiqui further said that the establishment of Cyber Security Authority is also under consideration. He said, "We want mobile manufacturing in Pakistan. The government wants inexpensive mobile phones in the country."
According to the briefing, Rs 7.12 billion were allocated in the budget 2018-19 for the IT Ministry and its attached departments. The government had allocated Rs 3.046 billion in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2018-19, but it was cut by 53 percent i.e. to Rs 1.597 billion and further revised to Rs 1.448 billion.
The committee members filed a number of complaints and expressed serious concerns over fake accounts, saying that several fake accounts have been operating in their names.
Committee member Naz Baloch said that several fake accounts are being run on her identity. Aftab Hussain and Ali Gohar said that five accounts are being run on their identities, but they do not know who are operating them.
The officials of the IT ministry said that Facebook and Twitter do not come under the legal ambit of Pakistan, adding that even the Supreme Court's directives do not apply on them. Several countries have signed agreements in this regard, but Pakistan has no agreement with any social media company.
The committee summoned Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in the next meeting for briefing on the matter.
Dot.pk domain was not Pakistan property, and it was an American company. After hectic efforts, two years ago, dot.pk domain was achieved from international forum. Now the whole data is being hosted at NTDC, the committee was told.
The Special Communications Organisation (SCO) briefed the committee on Optic Fibre Cable Project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The officials informed the committee that first phase of 820km of optic fibre cable has been completed.
It is the first communication link while database and control will be in Pakistan. China-Pakistan Optic Fibre Project is the first independent project. Before this, all the communications projects have connectivity with India. Due to internet connectivity with India, data leak was also a threat.
The parliamentary panel was further informed that the number of 3G and 4G users in Pakistan reached 64.57 million. Number of mobile phone users in Pakistan reached 156.92 million by end-February. During the last five years, 151 percent growth was registered in the IT sector of Pakistan.