Pakistan’s global ranking in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has
been downgraded from 102nd in 2012 to 105th in 2013, according to World Economic
Forum’s (WEF) Global Information Technology Report 2013 released on
Wednesday.
Despite the fact that in Pakistan Ministry of Information Technology was headed by two former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, the country was unable to show a remarkable improvement in the country’s ICT development.
Despite the fact that in Pakistan Ministry of Information Technology was headed by two former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, the country was unable to show a remarkable improvement in the country’s ICT development.
published under the theme, Growth and Jobs in a
Hyper connected World, Pakistan continues to lag behind in the rankings. Unable
to achieve a sustained rapid economic growth may put Pakistan’s
ICT-competitiveness in jeopardy unless the right investments are made in ICT,
skills and innovation.
A partner institute of Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the WEF, Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Amir Jahangir said, “As other countries are improving rapidly, Pakistan has shown little change, this a matter of concern. Pakistan is 37 ranks behind India. The big challenge for the next government in Pakistan would be to put more emphasise on ICT environment and regulatory framework. The role of ICT for a sustained economic growth and job creation is crucial to improve Pakistan’s competitiveness. ICT has revolutionised the way businesses are done and the country has not being able to capitalise on this.”
Some of the areas where Pakistan lost its ICT competitiveness are; govt’s procurement of advance technologies, which ranked 109 this year as compared to 91 in 2012. Although Pakistan has improved the fixed broadband Internet tariff substantially by making Pakistan the 68th most competitive broadband provider in the world, individuals using Internet, which depicts affordability of Internet for citizens is shrinking. Pakistan lost 22 points in 2013 and ranks at 120 on individuals using Internet. The report highlights that the gains in broadband affordability are being achieved by cannibalizing the individual Internet users.
Pakistan achieved significant gains in the last decade, when it embraced the mobile technologies and led the region by providing human resources capital and technical know how to the global pool of mobile communication providers. However this gain has been greatly diminished due to lack of advancements and inconsistency in decision making to adopt new technologies at the right time. The Importance of ICTs to government’s vision has deteriorated from 92 to 117 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Making ICT as one of the least priority areas for the govt. in Pakistan.
A partner institute of Global Competitiveness and Benchmarking Network of the WEF, Mishal Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Amir Jahangir said, “As other countries are improving rapidly, Pakistan has shown little change, this a matter of concern. Pakistan is 37 ranks behind India. The big challenge for the next government in Pakistan would be to put more emphasise on ICT environment and regulatory framework. The role of ICT for a sustained economic growth and job creation is crucial to improve Pakistan’s competitiveness. ICT has revolutionised the way businesses are done and the country has not being able to capitalise on this.”
Some of the areas where Pakistan lost its ICT competitiveness are; govt’s procurement of advance technologies, which ranked 109 this year as compared to 91 in 2012. Although Pakistan has improved the fixed broadband Internet tariff substantially by making Pakistan the 68th most competitive broadband provider in the world, individuals using Internet, which depicts affordability of Internet for citizens is shrinking. Pakistan lost 22 points in 2013 and ranks at 120 on individuals using Internet. The report highlights that the gains in broadband affordability are being achieved by cannibalizing the individual Internet users.
Pakistan achieved significant gains in the last decade, when it embraced the mobile technologies and led the region by providing human resources capital and technical know how to the global pool of mobile communication providers. However this gain has been greatly diminished due to lack of advancements and inconsistency in decision making to adopt new technologies at the right time. The Importance of ICTs to government’s vision has deteriorated from 92 to 117 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Making ICT as one of the least priority areas for the govt. in Pakistan.