ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s optical fiber cable network is planned to become a global corridor which can reduce the latency, besides benefitting the country by millions of dollars, said caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Dr Umar Saif.

The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has planned a digital corridor of connectivity for China, Russia, and Central Asian States with the rest of the world. The implementation of the proposed project will benefit Pakistan by millions of dollars, said Dr Saif, while addressing the meeting of representatives of PTA, SCO, PTCL, Transworld, and Peace Cable.

“We often talk about CPEC trade corridor, but equally big opportunity is for Pakistan to become a digital corridor of connectivity for China, Russia and Central Asian States with the rest of the world. We now have fiber connectivity from Kashgar to Karachi and can offer low latency connectivity for China transit traffic with the evolving network of submarine cables connecting Africa and Europe. Our digital corridor can reduce the latency from 120 ms to just 20 ms”, the minister added.

He further said this is a huge opportunity for Pakistan and we are all set to take this forward. Wonderful to meet with

all the ISPs, SCO and

submarine cable operators to turn Pakistan into a

digital corridor.

Global traffic can be connected to the submarine cable with the optical fiber cable up to Khunjrab, Karachi, and Gwadar. All resources and required facilities have been provided for the digital corridor, said Dr Saif, adding that digital access to the Middle East, Central Asia, China, and Europe will be available at easy and affordable rates.

Some of the immense global digital traffic can be routed through this corridor, said Dr Saif, adding that the platform of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) can be a great help in this project. At present, there are about 180,000 kilometers of fiber cable in the country and 6,000 mobile towers are connected, said DrSaif. A feasible plan has been made to install 0.3 million kilometers of optical fiber cable and connect 20,000 towers, he added.

By increasing the optical fiber cable, the connectivity will be faster, and better internet facilities will be provided to the users, said Dr Saif, adding that they are also in touch with international organisations including Google, Meta. Soon good news would be given about global networks, said the caretaker IT minister.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023