Prime Minister Shehbaz chairs IT Ministry review meeting as domestic internet connections triple to 5.10 million since 2024
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairing the review meeting on the affairs of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications on May 11, 2026. Photo: PMO/X
Pakistan is expected to achieve IT exports worth $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion in the current financial year, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a review meeting on the affairs of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MoITT).
Prime Minister Shehbaz reiterated that promotion of the IT sector and growth of IT-related exports remain among the top priorities of the government. “There is a huge potential among Pakistan’s youth in terms of IT, which should be fully exploited,” he said.
Islamabad : May 11, 2026
Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif chaired the meeting of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
Speaking at the meeting, the Prime Minister said that the promotion of IT in the country and the exportation related to IT are the government’s first priority. pic.twitter.com/VBmQYpHpJq
— Prime Minister’s Office (@PakPMO) 11 May 2026
The Prime Minister also directed that the work of establishing Easy Service Centers in Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir should be expedited and called for efforts to launch Easy Services facilities in the provinces in collaboration with provincial governments. He further called for the cooperation of provincial and district governments to reduce the IT gap between urban and rural areas.
The meeting was briefed on a number of initiatives that have been taken to promote IT throughout the country. The number of domestic Internet connections increased from 1.9 million in 2024 to 5.10 million in 2026, according to the PMO.
Regarding Fifth Generation (5G) services, the briefing revealed that an auction was recently held in the country and was the world’s largest in this regard since 2016, generating revenue of $509 million for Pakistan.
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On the promotion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Pakistan, the meeting was informed that Indus AI Week was organized in February 2025, with events held in 30 cities, over 100 international delegates participated and 88 pavilions set up.
The meeting was also informed that fiber connectivity has been provided to public schools and health units in the federal capital. The provision of free internet hotspots in Islamabad is also in its final phase, with e-learning pods being installed in Saidpur Model Village and Fatima Jinnah Park.
The review meeting was attended by Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, Minister for Finance Ahad Khan Cheema, Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja and Minister of State for Finance and Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani along with other senior officials.
The meeting comes a day after it was announced that MoITT plans to launch 20,000 online training programs in AI across Pakistan through an advanced learning management system (LMS), showing a pattern of developments aimed at promoting modern technology in the country.
