GSMA Convenes National Leaders to Advance Digital Pakistan 2030

Senior representatives from Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments, Gilgit-Baltistan, industry, regulators and development partners convened at the GSMA Digital Nation Pakistan Ministerial Roundtable to identify practical actions that build on Pakistan’s growing digital momentum and accelerate the delivery of Digital Pakistan 2030.

The roundtable was one of the few forums to bring together federal ministries, all four provincial governments including representation from Gilgit-Baltistan, the national regulator, mobile industry leaders and international development partners around a shared agenda for Pakistan’s digital future. This breadth of participation reflected the growing recognition that delivering Digital Pakistan 2030 requires coordinated action across the federal government, provinces, industry and development partners.

To inform these discussions, the GSMA published a new discussion paper, Digital Pakistan 2030: Building Momentum for Sustainable Investment, Trust and Inclusive Growth, which provided a framework for discussion by highlighting Pakistan’s recent progress and identifying five priorities to help translate today’s momentum into long-term economic and social outcomes.

The discussion paper highlighted the significant progress Pakistan has made across spectrum policy, mobile internet and smartphone adoption, women’s digital inclusion, digital trust, cybersecurity and stronger collaboration between government and industry. It argued that these advances have established stronger foundations for future growth, while emphasising that continued collaboration between government, industry and development partners will be essential to sustain momentum, create investment certainty, strengthen trusted digital infrastructure and deliver coordinated implementation across the digital ecosystem.

Pakistan has established important foundations for digital growth, and the momentum of the past year is clear, said Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific, GSMA. What makes today’s roundtable particularly significant is the opportunity to bring together leaders from across government, industry and development organisations to discuss the practical actions needed to sustain that momentum. Delivering Digital Pakistan 2030 will depend on continued collaboration, shared priorities and coordinated implementation across the digital ecosystem.

Our discussion paper is intended to support those conversations by providing a framework for discussion and identifying where collective action can have the greatest impact.

The GSMA discussion paper identified five strategic priorities to build on Pakistan’s digital momentum and support the delivery of Digital Pakistan 2030, including strengthening investment certainty by building on recent spectrum reforms and creating an environment that supports long-term infrastructure investment, accelerating digital inclusion by reducing the remaining usage gap through greater affordability, digital skills, rural connectivity, and continued progress on women’s digital inclusion. It also emphasized on preparing infrastructure for the AI economy through investment in 5G readiness, fibre, data centres, energy resilience, and future spectrum planning, and building trusted digital infrastructure by strengthening cybersecurity, digital identity, child online safety, anti-scam collaboration, and broader digital trust frameworks. The paper also noted that the success of these points relied on strengthening national coordination across government, industry and development partners to improve implementation and accelerate delivery of shared priorities.

The paper also outlined a Digital Pakistan 2030 Action Agenda centered on five shared actions: creating investment certainty, accelerating digital inclusion, building trusted digital infrastructure, preparing Pakistan for the AI economy and strengthening national coordination. Together, these actions provide a practical framework for government, industry and development partners to convert today’s momentum into measurable economic and social outcomes.

The Ministerial Roundtable concluded with a shared Call to Action, reinforcing a collective commitment to sustain Pakistan’s digital momentum through stronger collaboration, sustained investment and coordinated implementation across government, industry and development partners.