NTC Karachi data centre enters procurement phase

The government has moved ahead with the establishment of a sovereign, cloud-based and AI-enabled data centre of the National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) in Karachi, with the project already entering the procurement phase.

Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja, in a written reply to the National Assembly, said the “Establishment of NTC Data Center at Karachi” project was approved under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) 2025-26 and is currently under procurement.

The minister said the facility has been designed primarily to cater to the market of NTC’s South Region, including government entities operating in the region. The initial setup is being procured at present and would subsequently be scaled up according to the requirements of government clients.

According to NTC, the project is aimed at establishing sovereign data centre infrastructure within Pakistan, reducing dependence on foreign cloud platforms while providing basic AI services and strengthening data sovereignty, cybersecurity, regulatory compliance and operational resilience.

The facility is expected to address the growing computing and storage requirements of the NTC South Region and provide localized hosting services to federal and provincial government entities operating across Sindh and Balochistan.

NTC said the data centre would offer Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), disaster recovery and business continuity services. The regional facility is expected to reduce pressure on infrastructure nodes in northern parts of the country while improving the reliability, availability and response times of critical e-governance platforms.

The government also expects the Karachi facility to reinforce implementation of the Pakistan Cloud First Policy by providing a standardized and secure domestic cloud framework for government organizations.

NTC said keeping public-sector data within Pakistan’s geographical boundaries would help shield government data from foreign supply-chain risks, international pricing fluctuations and geopolitical vulnerabilities.

In a significant step towards establishing NTC as a trusted sovereign cloud provider, seven applications have been submitted for accreditation under the Pakistan Cloud First Policy, including NTC itself, the reply added.

The Karachi data centre will also incorporate foundational AI capabilities in line with Pakistan’s emerging National AI Policy framework.

According to NTC, its regional AI-capable node would operate through a vendor-neutral computing stack and sovereign, locally contextualized large language models (LLMs), enabling secure AI inference and model deployment for strategic public-sector applications.

The facility is also expected to give a push to the domestic IT sector by enabling government institutions to shift from expensive foreign cloud platforms to locally hosted infrastructure, potentially reducing operational costs and conserving foreign exchange.

NTC said the scalable architecture of the data centre would allow capacity to be expanded in line with market demand, creating infrastructure for the growth of e-governance, digital public services and technology-driven innovation in sectors including health, education, finance and industry.

The project, therefore, is being positioned not merely as a regional data centre but as a key component of Pakistan’s efforts to build sovereign digital infrastructure, strengthen control over government data and support the country’s transition towards cloud and AI-enabled public services.

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