Islamabad, Dr. Umar Saif, the Caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, announced four significant milestones achieved in collaboration with various entities, including PTCL, SCO, PTA, De CIX, PEACE Cable, and China Mobile. The announcement was made during the inaugural ceremony of ‘Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE) powered by DE-CIX’, the country’s first carrier-neutral Internet Exchange (IX).

According to Press Information Department, Dr. Umar Saif revealed that an agreement had been reached for China to route its Internet traffic through Pakistan, positioning the country as a regional hub for connectivity and potentially generating substantial revenue. Etisalat has set up Pakistan’s first carrier-neutral IXP and Data Center, and PTCL will collaborate with DE CIX, a German data center and IXP operator, to manage this new data center. This partnership is expected to bring major cloud services like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure to Pakistan and create a local content hub for services such as YouTube, TikTok, and Netflix. The initiative is aimed at enabling Pakistan to become a regional hub of connectivity and could generate annual revenues ranging from $200-400 million.

Zarrar Hasham Khan, Group Chief Business Solutions Officer at PTCL and Ufone 4G, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration with DE-CIX, which he believes will significantly advance Pakistan’s digital infrastructure and economy. Ivo Ivanov, CEO of DE-CIX, highlighted the importance of local interconnection for Pakistan, given its rapid Internet usage growth and large population.

The Pakistan Internet Exchange, powered by DE-CIX, is set to enhance regional connectivity by providing low-latency interconnection and localizing global content, thereby increasing network stability, scalability, and security.