Govt hails Huawei repair centre as step towards tech self-reliance

September 24, 2026 (MLN): The government has welcomed the establishment of Huawei Pakistan's Repair Centre GSC in Islamabad, the country's first facility of its kind for telecom hardware equipment, saying it will create high-skilled jobs, cut foreign exchange outflows and help Pakistan shift from consuming technology to building it.

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja said this at the inauguration ceremony of the centre, APP reported.

She thanked Huawei's leadership and team for setting up the facility in Pakistan. She credited policy certainty, along with the backing of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and the federal cabinet for the IT and telecom sectors, for creating an environment that encouraged international companies to expand their presence in the country.

Shaza Fatima said Pakistan had made significant progress in software and IT-enabled services, and that a hardware repair facility marked an important step for the telecom sector.

She said equipment repaired locally to international standards could eventually be offered to the world by Pakistan's young people. She added that telecom equipment was not just a matter of social media or communication, but a lifeline during disasters and network outages.

She said local repair would shorten the time lost in sending equipment abroad and bringing it back, while saving foreign exchange.

The government, she said, wanted Pakistanis to be builders and users of technology, and not only its consumers.

The centre currently has a repair capacity of 10,000 pieces and can repair around 180 types of equipment. The minister hoped both would grow, and said the facility could in time serve the wider region, given Huawei's extensive presence in telecom networks worldwide.

Shaza Fatima said Huawei had worked in Pakistan since 1998, including on the Karakoram Digital Highway, and had moved from providing digital infrastructure to supporting equipment repair, maintenance and skills development.

She recalled that during the prime minister's first visit to China in 2024, the Pakistani delegation had visited Huawei's headquarters and asked the company to train young Pakistanis.

That programme was still running, she said, with Huawei academies operating in around 230 universities and more than 100 academies providing training. She described the company as a partner in improving human resources and not just a technology partner, and one of Pakistan's key technology partners.

She added that the government valued its partnership with China and wanted to deepen cooperation in technology, skills development and digitalization.

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