Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Thursday became the first province of Pakistan to conduct a successful trial of 5G technology.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) said in a statement that a successful 5G technology trial was held at the Durshal Incubation Centre in Peshawar. The trial was held “in a limited environment on a non-commercial basis” as part of a collaboration between the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Technology Board (KPITB) and the PTCL, according to the statement.
Also on Thursday, the KPITB and PTCL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to conduct 5G trials in Peshawar.
“The demonstrations included successful remote surgery concept, cloud gaming and an overview of anticipated 5G technology applications in Pakistan. Once the infrastructure and systems are operational, surgeons will be able to perform surgeries remotely in the far-flung areas,” the statement reads.
Provincial Minister for Information Technology and Food Atif Khan was present at the trial. He said that KP was the first province in the country where trial of 5G services had been started, according to the KPITB.
Khan told reporters that the speed of 5G internet would be 10 times faster than 4G. About its application, he said it could be used to operate artificial arms. “A doctor in Chitral can perform an operation in Peshawar. There are lots of benefits with respect to films and games as well,” he said.
The provincial minister said that in the past people progressed when a road was built in an area but now they would progress when 5G technology was made available in their area. He dispelled the impression about any negative effect of the 5G technology.
He said the provincial government of KP was increasing the budget of the IT department from Rs430 million to Rs12-14 billion. “The provincial government gives a lot of importance to science and information technology and several megaprojects of the IT sector have been included in the upcoming year’s development budget, which would not only result in easier [facilitation of] services to people but also end corruption.”
Talking about initiatives the government would take, Khan said citizen facilitation centres would be built, the IT sector would be promoted, a 40-Kanal digital complex would be constructed in Peshawar along with an IT park in Abbottabad, a special technology zone in Mardan and an IT park in Swat.
He added that internet had been provided to 25 colleges in KP and efforts were being made to provide internet to other colleges and universities as well.
In February this year, PTCL conducted tests of 5G technology at its headquarters in Islamabad to achieve download speed up to 1.685 gigabytes per second (GBPS).
