The ongoing internet slowdown has put the livelihood of freelancers across the country at risk, with the recent episode of Fiverr changing the status of Pakistani accounts to ‘unavailable’ underscoring the gravity of the situation.
Over the last few years, many people have increasingly shifted towards offering their services to foreign clients via freelancing platforms. This gives them the liberty to work according to their schedules and to earn in foreign currencies, especially US dollars, which provides them a much-needed financial cushion amid ‘unstable’ rupee value and high inflation.
For this South Asian country, the prospect of its youth earning in dollars should be imperative enough for the government to support the freelancers wholeheartedly. Similarly, other tech professionals, who work remotely for foreign companies and get paid in dollars, expect some incentives from the government as well.
However, despite the government’s statements of promoting entrepreneurship, facilitating the youth in learning in-demand skills and focusing on the digitalization of the country, the truth contrasts with the situation bitterly. The internet slowdown has not only decelerated the pace of digitalization but it has also brought forth fears that the most promising sector of the economy, the tech sector, will be negatively hit due to the policies.
Waleed Anwar says internet issues affect their project deadlines, points out risk of losing some clients, hurting their revenue and credibility
Click Traces is Lahore-based digital marketing agency, and it’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Waleed Anwar told Jarida Today that with the public facing extreme internet outages, there were fears in the IT industry that client retention might get more difficult in the coming days, thus disrupting the sector as a whole.
He said that internet platforms like Fiverr have delisted many individuals who have been catering to foreign clientele, which places the entire freelancing community at risk. He highlighted that this was happening in a country whose freelancers rank fifth globally. He said that the IT industry must have been consulted on the imposition of the national firewall.
In a question, Waleed Anwar lamented that the government did not do so, and its ‘unilateral’ decisions were poised to hurt the industry badly. “Many freelancers will lose clients, and many companies might also find ways to exit the country if they cannot cover their monthly expenses here,” he said.
He expressed the day-to-day helplessness of the people working amid the internet slowdown. “We are at a standstill, and the team cannot perform routine tasks,” he said. “These internet issues affect our project deadlines, and we face the risk of losing some clients, thus hurting our revenue and the credibility of our work.”
The Click Traces CEO said that the government was ‘destroying’ the whole industry without any warning or prior announcement. “More than 700 IT companies in the P@SHA community share the same woes and are waiting for a definite response from the government,” he said, while referring to the Pakistan Software Houses Association.
Waleed Anwar further called on the government to address these issues urgently for the protection of Pakistan’s IT sector. However, he is not the only one expressing these woes and calling for action. Other individuals have taken to social media to express their reservations over the government’s attempts to regulate the internet, thereby causing a mass disruption in internet connectivity.
Ayesha Zaman says they have no option but to keep marching forward because they have to keep striving to keep hope alive for youngs
Ayesha Zaman, a prominent voice in the tech sector, and is the founder of Skills Gala, also expressed her concerns regarding the internet slowdown. She said that the outage has created an awkward situation for the IT event, because their entire focus is on uplifting the economy through this sector.
“We have given our blood and sweat, besides financial contributions, for bringing together this community for the past several months,” she said. “At times, the mind gets tired of what is happening, but we have no option but to keep marching forward because we have to keep striving to keep hope alive for our youngsters.”
Senate demands answers
Amid the uproar, the Senate’s Standing Committee on Information Technology demanded answers for the internet slowdown, besides ordering the authorities to resolve these issues within two weeks.
The members of the committee also raised concerns about the way the internet slowdown is affecting businesses, with one of them pointing out that it has caused major losses to businesses, roughly amounting to Rs500 million. The committee was informed by the IT secretary that the slowdown was persisting due to technical issues and would be resolved soon.
