ISLAMABAD: The export earnings from telecommunication, computer and information services grew 29.29 per cent to $2.19bn during July-April 2021-22 against $1.7bn in the same period last year.

       Despite improved performance by the IT and telecom sector in the outgoing fiscal year, the sector is less likely to achieve its export target of $3.5bn by the end of June. However, the Economic Survey 2021-22 released on Thursday highlighted that the Ministry of IT and Telecom and all its subordinate departments showed improvements in their performance, and the sector was a significant source of revenue generation for the national exchequer.

       From July 2021 to March, the telecom sector contributed around Rs163.3bn to the national exchequer in terms of taxes, regulatory fees, initial and annual license fees, activation tax, and other taxes.

       During this period the Personal Data Protection Bill has been approved, to counter rising cyber crimes.

       The foreign and local investments in the telecom sector in July-February 2021-22 crossed $930.1m, and the total number of mobile and fixed-line subscriptions reached 194.2 million, with a net addition of 6.7m subscribers compared to the same period of last year.

       Published in Dawn,June 10th, 2022