KARACHI, Oct. 11 (Gwadar Pro)- The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Huawei Technologies Pakistan (PVT) to establish a state-of-the-art national cloud data center.

 

 

The MoU was formally signed during the Huawei Connect 2024 Global Conference, aiming to strengthen NBP’s digital infrastructure by deploying cutting-edge cloud services in Tier-3 certified data centers. Huawei will provide a dedicated team to ensure timely implementation, ongoing operations and maintenance support. More than that, NBP representatives will receive hands-on training and documentation to ensure a smooth project integration.

 

NBP Chief Information Technology Group (ITG) Amin Manji and Huawei Technologies Pakistan (PVT) CEO Ethan Sun signed the MoU. NBP President Rehmat Ali Hasnie and IFRG Group CEO Riaz Hussain attended the signing ceremony, which was also attended by Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Executive Director and Chairman of ICT Infrastructure Management Committee David Wang, Huawei ME&CA Enterprise Business Group (EBG) President Derek Hao and Huawei Technologies Pakistan CEO Ethan Sun.

 

Rehmat Ali Hasnie, President of NBP, spoke at the event, “This collaboration is a testament to our commitment to adopting advanced technologies to improve operational efficiency.”

 

“Huawei’s expertise will be critical in transforming our data management capabilities and ensuring the reliability of our systems,” Amin Manji, Senior Vice President and Group Chief Information Technology Group (ITG) of NBP, added.

 

Since expanding into the Pakistani market in 1998, as of now, Huawei has a total of 3,200 local employees, with a localization rate as high as 91%. In 2018, the newly established “Huawei Technical Support Center” began to provide remote technical support services to other countries.

 

“At present, our Pakistani business is mainly divided into four major sectors,” Hank Shao, Managing Director, Huawei Cloud Pakistan, told Gwadar Pro. “First, operator services. We serve more than 10 Pakistani operators. Secondly, our enterprise business is to provide services for local organizations, large enterprises, and government agencies, involving public security, health, education, energy, finance and other fields. Third is cloud services, providing resident cloud platforms and public cloud services. Last but not the least is digital energy. We are committed to providing Pakistani customers with smart photovoltaics, data centers, sites energy and other solutions.” The reporter was told that more than 80% of Pakistanis use Huawei services directly or indirectly.

 

Pakistan’s Information Technology (IT) exports have soared to USD 3.2 billion in the fiscal year 2024, marking a robust 24% year-on-year increase from the previous fiscal’s USD 2.59 billion. The latest data, released by the State Bank of Pakistan, underscores the sector’s resilience and growth amidst global economic challenges. The sharp growth in IT exports highlights Pakistan's potential to leverage its technical talent and IT industry strengths. 

 

This article originally appeared on Gwadar Pro.