TechLahore

BusinessWeek just published an article about Pakistan’s rapidly rising stature as an international information technology outsourcing destination. The article cites A.T. Kearney’s May 2009 report which places Pakistan at number 20, up 10 places from the 2007 ranking of 30. This is despite all the rhetoric and nonsense in the media that doesn’t deserve much [...]

The communication infrastructure in Pakistan, both wired and wireless, is quite incredible. There’s one pet pieve I’d had for a while though, and that’s the lack of inexpensive, true mobile broadband in Lahore. WiMAX is available, but I haven’t come across a USB dongle from Wateen so far. Their rates are also a bit on [...]

There is little doubt in the fact that the UAE and Pakistani economies are increasingly inter-twined. On this very blog, we’ve talked about substantial UAE investments in Pakistan, in particular in real-estate, Banking and Telecommunications. And of course, in one of the most important new projects under construction in Pakistan, the $5BN Khalifa Refinery. This, [...]

Pakistan is such an absolutely amazing place. If you put that copy of Newsweek down for a moment and think what we’ve built in the last 60 years, I think rationality would require you to be close to awe-struck. Today we are a country on the verge of ascent into globally acknowledged greatness. We were [...]

Pakistan International Airlines has an amazing history. It was, through the 50s, 60s and 70s, perhaps Asia’s leading airline. These were the days of Pierre Cardin designed uniforms, amazing ads, trail blazing destinations (PIA was one of the world’s first non communist airlines to fly to Beijing) and unparalleled service. Starting in the 70′s, though, [...]

Last year, I listed out a set of predictions and just recently I evaluated how they turned out. But on to more important business: what’s 2009 going to be like for Pakistan, for the IT industry and for the world at large? There are lots of very important trends unfolding before our eyes and they can [...]

Exactly a year ago, I published a list of economic, IT and political predictions for 2008. I guess I didn’t do very badly, but where I was wrong, it was due to my optimism. But then, 2008 has been a pretty tough year for almost the entire world. Plenty of surprising, unsettling things happened and [...]

Doesn’t that headline just put a smile on your face? You’re not the only one. It’s great to see that the significant human effort augmented by billions of dollars invested in Pakistan’s IT infrastructure and skill-development are bearing tangible fruit. There are several areas where Pakistan is leading the pack already, and others where it [...]

I was recently in Lahore and I couldn’t help but notice the immense amount of commercial construction happening in the city. Just driving down the Gulberg Main Boulevard one can see numerous high rises being built. This process has been going on for the last many years and does not appear to be slowing down [...]

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. True WiMAX competition in Pakistan, between Wateen’s existing service and Mobilink’s upcoming Infinity WiMAX offering. It’s only competition that will improve coverage, reduce rates and improve service. Currently, Wateen has the run of the house and to be honest, our December 2007 prediction is going to [...]