Workshop on Opportunities for 5G R&D Activities in Pakistan

Ignite (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund) organized a workshop in collaboration with LUMS & Al Khwarizmi Institute of Computer Science (KICS), UET, Lahore to initiate a discourse on launching 5G R&D activities in the country. The intent was to receive sector specific input from subject experts and also to directly engage the industry for demand side input.

The event provided the ICT intelligentsia an opportunity to interact with industrialists that can potentially partner with them to venture into active R&D in the area.

Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Vice Chancellor LUMS recalled that 20 years ago he motivated the ICT intelligentsia to start the discussion on 3G and people at that time were a bit skeptical about such things happening in Pakistan but today we are eagerly talking about 5G. He thanked Ignite (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund) for the initiative while appreciating KICS for getting on-board.

While addressing the audience as the key note speaker, Dr. Syed Ismail Shah, Chairman PTA mentioned some of the recent achievements of his organization that included, suction of spectrum, biometric authentication of SIMs and winning of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council seat. He said that PTA is striving for acquiring more spectrum bandwidth. He informed that the Broadband penetration in the country has increased from 2% to 10% after 3G/4G auction. He also said that PTA will soon launch user apps to gather health report of the network. He also welcomed users’ feedback on their services and initiatives. He stated that PTA is keen to know about user comments on their Smart Pakistan initiative. He shared that his organization is mindful of Parents’ complaints on the impact of social media on their children that is increasingly affecting the family bond.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, Syed Muhammad Asif Rumi, CEO Ignite (Formerly National ICT R&D Fund) welcomed the distinguished speakers and a wide range of audience from ICT industry and academia. Further, he talked about the vision of Ms. Anusha Rehman, Minister of State for IT & Telecom about the establishment of a Tech-City which will help create an ecosystem for ICT centric R&D in the country. He also touched upon the formation of centers of excellence that would potentially help identify and launch commercially viable projects.

Later eminent scholars and researchers such as Dr. Waqar Ahmed, Director KICS UET Lahore, Dr. Usman Javed, Vodafone UK, Dr. Zeeshan Shakir, Texas A&M University Qatar, Dr. Syed Ali Raza Zaidi, University of Leeds, Dr. Bilal Rasool from Warid Telecom, Dr. Imran Ashraf from Alcatel Lucent spoke on different aspects of research and development activities in 5G on two accounts one; that can help Pakistan to embrace the technology by 2020 the year it’s expected to be launched in the West and secondly; use of 5G technology in areas that can benefit the common man while addressing issues specific to the country.

Speakers: