ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Dr Umar Saif on Tuesday highlighted the recent policy changes by the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) in Pakistan, aimed at supporting the IT and telecom sectors.
Speaking to a high-level delegation led by his Malaysian counterpart Fahmi Fadzi in Dubai at the GITEX-23 sidelines meeting, Dr Saif said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has authorised a 50% retention of IT export remittances in foreign currency (FCY) accounts.
Policies have been implemented to ensure smooth and hassle-free cash flows for IT exporters through online banking and corporate debit cards, he added.
These developments also encompass various initiatives aimed at simplifying Right of Way (ROW) charges, boosting infrastructure sharing, advancing the 5G spectrum, and enhancing IT export retention.
Dr Saif said the federal cabinet granted approval for an advisory Committee for Pakistan’s 5G Spectrum auction a major step toward digital Pakistan.
In a related context, the minister Expand North Star, an international showcase of innovation and cultural exchange.
The Pakistan Pavilion was thoughtfully designed to encapsulate the country’s progress and potential, welcoming visitors with open arms.
Moreover, the minister expressed Pakistan’s intention to learn from Malaysia’s innovative approach and policies regarding the rollout of 5G technology.
“Malaysia has rolled out 5G at a lightning pace using a very innovative Spectrum Sharing policy. We will work with our Malaysian counterparts to learn about their innovative approach and policies” the minister said.
The meeting encompassed crucial technology topics with the objective of strengthening collaboration between the two nations.
During the meeting, Dr Saif explored the realm of financial technology (Fintech) and touched upon Starlink, the satellite internet company, making inroads into Malaysia.
The discussion extended to the potential implementation of LYNC, with a commitment to sharing experiences and knowledge.
Dr Saif drew attention to Pakistan’s network coverage challenges, underscoring the importance of adopting best practices from the Malaysian Regulator.
Both ministers engaged in a dialogue regarding Pakistan’s path to adopting 5G technology and the challenges impeding this transition.
The Malaysian minister pledged to share best practices to facilitate this transition.
The meeting also featured a discussion on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and its potential benefits for both Pakistan and Malaysia in the technology sector.
The meeting involved a commitment to enhance coordination and discussions in the forthcoming months, signifying the growing partnership between the two countries.
The New York-based cybersecurity firm Wiz has discovered a cache of sensitive data from the Chinese artificial intelligence business DeepSeek that was mistakenly exposed to the public internet.
In a blog post released on Wednesday, Wiz reported that examinations of DeepSeek’s infrastructure revealed that the company had inadvertently exposed over a million lines of unencrypted data. The materials were digital software keys and chat logs that seemingly documented prompts transmitted from consumers to the company’s complimentary AI assistant.
The chief technical officer of Wiz stated that DeepSeek promptly safeguarded the data following the notice from his organisation.
“It was removed in under an hour,” stated Ami Luttwak. “However, this was exceedingly easy to locate, leading us to believe we are not the sole discoverers.”
DeepSeek did not promptly respond to a request for comment.
DeepSeek’s rapid success after the introduction of its AI helper has exhilarated China and incited concern in America. The Chinese company’s evident capacity to rival OpenAI’s skills at a significantly reduced cost has raised concerns regarding the viability of the business models and profit margins of U.S. AI behemoths like Nvidia and Microsoft.
By Monday, it surpassed the U.S. competitor ChatGPT in downloads from Apple’s App Store, prompting a worldwide decline in technology stocks.
WhatsApp has initiated testing of a bulk channel administration feature on iOS for select beta users, enabling the simultaneous selection of many channels, hence enhancing the efficiency of managing following channels.
This essential update enables users to perform bulk activities, including muting many channels simultaneously, designating them as read, and altering notifications. If the chosen channels are muted, users will now have the option to activate notifications. Users can swiftly silence unmuted channels in one action.
Additionally, this feature enables users to unfollow many channels simultaneously, thereby optimizing the process of decluttering their channel list. This change is particularly beneficial for users that oversee numerous subscriptions, as reported by WABetaInfo.
Previously, users were required to manage each channel individually, rendering tasks such as muting or designating channels as read laborious and time-consuming.
The functionality provides enhanced flexibility and control over channel subscriptions, enabling users to efficiently manage notifications. The solution streamlines laborious operations for consumers who subscribe to numerous channels, hence enhancing their entire experience.
Accessibility The bulk management feature is presently accessible exclusively to a limited number of beta testers who installed the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS using the TestFlight application. WhatsApp, owned by Meta, plans to expand the feature’s availability to a larger user base in the next weeks.
This update demonstrates WhatsApp’s dedication to enhancing user experience by offering a clear and efficient method for managing channels and notifications.
Even after two weeks, the global submarine cable AAA-1 problem that was discovered on January 2 near Qatar has not been fixed, causing sluggish internet connection in several Pakistani towns.
According to a representative for Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), the issue has affected customers’ capacity to effectively access social media applications and browse the online. Even with initiatives to fix the problem, social networking sites still lag during busy times.
Internet traffic has been redirected via alternate channels to lessen the impact, and more capacity has been set up to stabilize the service.
The PTCL representative promised that “Internet service across the country is operating normally, and there will be no issues with web browsing,” noting that social media applications’ lag is common during