Speaking at the inaugural speech for the 26th ITCN Asia Expo in Karachi, IT Minister Shaza Fatima reiterated the government’s commitment towards 5G internet rollout. Touting it as a significant step forward towards improving internet connectivity and performance speeds across the country, she attributed present connectivity slowdowns to technical issues caused by damages to submarine cables in the Red Sea. The IT minister stressed Pakistan’s efforts in expanding their submarine cable capacity to ensure more reliable internet services, and identified this sector as being pivotal to the recent Pak-Saudi Defence Agreement- though few details were provided to support these statements. Lastly, she commended the government’s sustained efforts to ensure progress towards digitization and a “cashless economy”, identifying the National AI Policy and expansion in digital banking services as evidence of this progress.