KARACHI: Pakistan’s new telecommunications data localisation framework signals a fundamental shift in how businesses must manage their digital infrastructure, the president of enterprise solutions at JazzWorld said in an interview with The News.
Shahzad Rasheed, who heads JazzWorld’s enterprise business, said that compliance requirements present a long-term strategic opportunity rather than a regulatory burden.
Rasheed said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s finalised regulations under CTDISR-2025 required companies to rethink where critical data sits, how it is governed, and how cybersecurity is managed. Companies relying heavily on offshore infrastructure would need to realign quickly, he said, adding that local hosting improves performance, reduces latency, and strengthens resilience while aligning businesses with Pakistan’s evolving regulatory direction.
Asked whether the regulations would drive infrastructure investment, Rasheed said the framework was a clear catalyst for increased spending on local cloud, data centres, and cybersecurity as enterprises modernise legacy systems and move towards compliant architectures. He did not provide specific capital expenditure figures but said the upfront costs were outweighed by long-term gains including better performance, greater control, and stronger trust. The question of who ultimately bears those costs, whether providers or their clients, was not directly addressed.
On competition with global cloud providers such as AWS and Google Cloud, Rasheed said these platforms were not designed around Pakistan’s regulatory realities and that rising focus on data residency was making local hosting a necessity rather than a choice. He said JazzWorld’s Garaj platform was built specifically for this environment, combining local data residency, compliance requirements, and on-ground support in a single integrated model covering connectivity, cloud, and cybersecurity. That integration, he argued, offers faster response, better accountability, and solutions tailored to local business needs. “This is not about replacing global cloud,” he said. “It is about complementing it with a sovereign, compliant foundation inside Pakistan.”
Discussing the implications of Pakistan’s recent spectrum auction, Rasheed described spectrum as essentially network capacity, with additional capacity translating directly into faster, more reliable, and more consistent connectivity for enterprise clients. He said banks would be able to enable real-time transactions and fraud detection, factories could automate operations through the Internet of Things, and hospitals could support connected care and telemedicine. Expanding spectrum also reduces network congestion, which he described as critical for mission-critical services where downtime carries significant operational or financial consequences.
On 5G, Rasheed said the technology was not merely a network upgrade but a platform for real-time, intelligent operations. Its strongest impact would be felt in manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and financial services where low latency and reliability matter most. He said adoption would nonetheless be phased, with practical and targeted applications emerging over the next 12 to 24 months rather than any immediate mass rollout as device ecosystems and enterprise readiness continue to mature.
Addressing mid-sized Pakistani companies still operating on legacy systems, Rasheed said the question for such businesses was no longer whether to digitise but how quickly they could do so without falling behind competitors. He said digital transformation did not need to be complex and could begin with manageable steps such as migrating to cloud, digitising customer journeys, or automating key internal processes. JazzWorld’s role, he said, was to simplify that journey through integrated and scalable solutions that allowed businesses to modernise at their own pace while delivering clear operational and cost benefits.
Asked about the biggest obstacles to enterprise technology adoption in Pakistan, Rasheed said the challenge was not any single factor but a combination of affordability, awareness, and trust. Many small and medium enterprises still viewed technology as a cost rather than a growth driver, and there remained hesitation around moving away from familiar legacy systems. He said the gap was nonetheless closing, with increased focus on digital skills and artificial intelligence improving market readiness and businesses beginning to recognise that technology adoption was central to competitiveness rather than optional.
Drawing on experience from previous roles at Huawei Cloud, IBM and Cisco, Rasheed said Pakistan’s single most important priority over the next three years was building trusted, local digital infrastructure at scale. He said countries that lead in enterprise digitisation do not simply adopt technology but control the infrastructure behind it, including sovereign cloud, secure data environments, and high-quality connectivity. If Pakistan gets this combination right, he said, it has a real opportunity to leapfrog regional competitors rather than fall further behind.
