ISLAMABAD: The National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) has inaugurated Pakistans
first ever National Data Centre.
The inauguration ceremony held in the capital was attended by State Minister for Information
Technology Ms Anusha Rahman Khan, Chairman PTA Dr. Ismail Shah and various
professionals from the IT industry of Pakistan.
Pakistan is the first ever SAARC country to implement the e-governance model. After
successfully converting over 6,000 files to e-government by the Ministry of Information
Technology, the government last year decided to replicate this model in all ministries/divisions
and attached departments.
“So, in that respect, the main aim behind the newly inaugurated data centre would be to help the
government implement its e-governance agenda. This National Data Centre will comply with the
Tier-3 standards and other than e-governance also assist in e-commerce and e-health”, informed
the minister.
IT Minister Anusha Rahman also stated that the National Data Centre for e-governance is the top
priority of the government.
Speaking at the event, Chairman NTC Viqar Rasheed Khan said that the Data Centre will be
added with the latest IT features and it will be highly technical. “The Data Centre will provide
the facilities to the government bodies with different services in data communication as various
other private service providers are offering to their clients”, he said
National Telecommunication Corporation signed a contract with Inbox Business Technologies
and Huawei earlier this year in March. The entire process of the data centres establishment took
place within a time span of 5 months and it is expected that it will be up and running quite soon
owing to close working ties between the government and the private sector.