According to Sajjad Mustafa Syed, chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), the internet blackout cost Pakistan’s IT industry around $1 million every hour. 

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Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, chairman P@SHA stated that “market access, infrastructure stability, accommodative taxation policy, and skilled human resources are linked to achieving the government’s envisaged target of $15 billion IT exports.” 

The government must prioritize and fund branding to fully exploit the sector’s potential. He added that the pattern over the last three years shows that if the government invests $1 on market access, it would receive a return of $49. According to him, almost 40% of exports are from the IT sector, bringing the total to $3.2 billion. He says the US accounts for 55% of Pakistan’s IT exports, with Europe coming in second at 20%.

Syed discussed the fallout from the nation’s frequent internet outages, stating that 90% of businesses reported losses and 99% of companies said their services were interrupted. The chairman cited a recent internet downtime as an example, stating that one call center was penalized $2 million.  

He stated that the industry suffers since it pays taxes on its earnings. He also urged the government to provide tax breaks so that the industry can thrive and attract investment and remittances. 

To make it more secure and industry-friendly, he added, the government should follow the model of a VPN service provider, as free virtual private networks pose a risk to data security. He said that P@SHA contributes to policy harmonization because it shouldn’t be done in a vacuum.