As many as 200,000 jobs would be created in the next three years in the IT sector in Pakistan which is the fastest growing country in the telecommunication sector in Asia after China, Information Technology Minister Awais Leghari said. Addressing a seminar organized by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the minister said: "We are planning to create 200,000 jobs in the IT sector in the next three years.” Leghari announced that the Ministry of IT and telecommunications is declaring 25 more existing universities into tier one specifically for the IT discipline. The career placement officers of the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) will be deployed in these institutions. Leghari said that on an average 100 to 200 students per university would be picked up depending upon the availability of the students for the internship programme and would be placed in the top 10 or 15 IT and IT enabled services companies. The minister announced that unlimited amount of training resources would be offered to all the PSEB member IT and IT enabled service companies to add on the work force. Leghari said his ministry would be embarking on an aggressive programme for job creation in the IT sector. “My message is that please look again towards the IT discipline as it has a huge potential and my strong opinion is that if you are a good IT graduate there is no way a Pakistan company would not pick you up,” Leghari said adding that all good IT graduates are hired and employed. “We have been able to reach out to a very significant part of the population of the country rising from 2.8 million mobile users to more that 28 million users of mobile phone as of today. The minister said that a proliferation of fixed line services has also been witnessed. He stated that in the last three years the telecommunication sector in Pakistan has seen an exponential rate and the reason for this is the deregulation and liberalization of this sector, which has attracted investments. The minister said that at present about half of Pakistan's population has the telephone facility which will be raised to 85 percent in the next three years. Leghari said that there is an extensive programme for the urban areas whereby some 1.5 million to two million households will be made available fast Internet connections. He said that the e-procurement system is also being introduced in the country, which will also help create IT related jobs in the market. Leghari said that the task of laying the third submarine cable would commence by next month.
