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| .pk Pakistan |
Overview A number of initiatives have been introduced in the ICT sector after a new government took office in November 2002. The new government has continued to give the sector high priority for development. It has been supporting ICT development via a two-pronged strategy. The first part of the strategy aims at generating work for the local ICT industry, which is still reeling from the 2001 - 2002 economic downturn. The second part sets out to help small and medium enterprises embrace ICT to enhance their performance and competitiveness. At the same time, these enterprises, as well as public sector organisations, have come to appreciate that ICT can enhance productivity. Some of these companies have set up office LANs and websites and adopted ICT applications. The Internet has become an essential tool for business communication. The use of broadband services has started to grow in homes and offices located in major cities. This trend is expected to accelerate. Efforts to network the country continue, and so far over 1,800 towns and cities have been plugged into the Internet backbone. The telecommunications sector remained the focus of attention during much of 2004. The growth of cellular networks accelerated during the year resulting in a doubling of subscribers. Cellular phone subscribers are expected to surpass fixed-line phone users before the end of 2004. The year has been rightly regarded as the "telecommunications policy year" as it saw key policy changes taking effect. The fixed-line telecommunications deregulation policy was announced, formally bringing to an end the incumbent operator’s monopoly and setting the stage for the opening up of the sector to major investors. Two new cellular licences were awarded in April 2004. The initiatives to develop local online content and promote the use of local languages online also gained momentum. Local-language newspapers continue to lead in developing local-language online content as well as introducing innovative services such as online news delivery via cellular phones. The year also saw some revival of the ICT industry, specially the outsourcing segment. The companies that survived the downturn have emerged more focused, having learnt from their past experiences. New firms have also sprouted to capitalise on the new opportunities in outsourcing. A number of them set up call-centre operations to provide back-office services to foreign-based companies. This segment of the ICT services market is expected to grow in the years ahead because of favourable fundamentals. Looking back at the early efforts to promote the ICT sector, it is found that they have not been able to achieve their objectives. In fact, the sector appeared to have shrunk during the first half of 2004 when a number of ICT companies folded. This was due primarily to the latent effects of the global dotcom crash and to geopolitical insecurity. The e-commerce and e-government initiatives, which represented the core of the ICT industry development strategy in 2000 - 2001, were not able to achieve any visible success either, owing to the inertia in revamping official processes and systems. Nonetheless, the pilot programmes started in these critical areas are likely to act as agents of change for the future. Meanwhile, the Human Resource Development Initiative has achieved mixed results. Universities and other educational institutions have been upgraded, and a critical mass of students has been trained in various facets of ICT. However, the downturn, coupled with the delay in providing assistance to the industry is creating a growing mass of unemployed ICT workers. Online services Although the government continues to be the leading enabler of online services, the private sector has also begun to provide services online. These services include online banking and stock trading, which have emerged as successful examples of e-commerce.. . . . . the complete text of this chapter is available for purchase and immediate download as a PDF file, please click here for more information. |
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