International Desk: Pakistan’s digital ambitions are running into a stark reality: millions of its citizens remain on the wrong side of the digital divide, unable to fully access the internet, smart devices, digital finance, online education or the growing world of remote employment.

What Pakistan presents as a march towards a modern digital economy is, for a huge section of its population, still a story of exclusion. Internet access is no longer a luxury; it has become essential infrastructure for education, entrepreneurship, employment and participation in the modern economy. Yet the country continues to struggle to make that access meaningful for millions.

World Bank data shows that internet usage in Pakistan stood at just 57% in 2024, leaving almost half the population offline. Even that figure does not capture the full depth of the problem. Having nominal access to the internet does not necessarily mean having a reliable connection, a personal smart device, sufficient data or the skills and confidence needed to use digital services effectively.

Digital Accounts Without Digital Participation

Pakistan’s financial inclusion drive exposes another uncomfortable contradiction. Mobile wallets and digital payment accounts have expanded rapidly, creating the appearance of progress. But opening an account is one thing; actually using it is another.

Many accounts reportedly become inactive after being opened. In rural areas, digital transactions remain particularly weak, with inadequate agent networks and a continued dependence on cash. Women face an additional disadvantage, being significantly less likely than men to own and actively use digital accounts in their own names.

Even younger users, expected to drive Pakistan’s transition towards mobile finance, are signing up without necessarily becoming active users. The result is a troubling form of digital inclusion on paper but exclusion in practice.

The technology itself is not necessarily the problem. Digital applications exist, agents operate on the ground and QR codes are increasingly visible in commercial areas. The real failure is converting nominal access into sustained participation.

Poverty Is Now Becoming a Digital Barrier

Pakistan’s infrastructure divide is equally revealing. Households with reliable broadband and modern devices can access opportunities that remain completely out of reach for families dependent on slow connections, shared phones and limited data.

For a low-income Pakistani household, buying a smartphone can be a major financial burden rather than an ordinary consumer purchase. The World Bank’s Global Findex Database 2025 indicates that lack of money was the leading reason among Pakistani adults without smartphones.

That exposes the central weakness of Pakistan’s digital transformation: economic inequality is directly producing digital inequality.

And the consequences are becoming increasingly severe.

Education: A Child’s Future Tied to Connectivity

Education is among the first casualties. A student without a personal device or stable internet connection cannot compete on equal terms with classmates who have immediate access to online learning resources, digital libraries and remote coursework.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed this divide dramatically. While privileged students continued studying through laptops, smartphones and video calls, many others struggled simply because they lacked the connectivity or equipment required to remain in education.

A technology that should have widened educational opportunity instead risked becoming another marker of privilege.

Entrepreneurship: Opportunity for Some, Closed Doors for Others

Pakistan’s digital economy has created new opportunities through e-commerce, freelancing and digital marketing. But those opportunities are hardly universal.

A business owner in a well-connected urban centre can advertise online, list products, receive digital payments and reach customers across the country. Someone in an underserved district may possess an equally good product but lack the connectivity, device or digital skills required to reach the same market.

The digital economy therefore risks becoming another urban advantage rather than a nationwide engine of opportunity.

Employment: The New Digital Gatekeeper

The employment market is undergoing an equally profound change. Remote working, online recruitment and digital-first businesses increasingly require basic digital literacy and the ability to operate through online platforms.

For Pakistanis without reliable access, the penalty is not merely inconvenience. They can be excluded from entire categories of better-paying employment.

A person may have the education, ability and willingness to work — but without reliable digital access, the modern labour market can remain effectively closed.

Pakistan Cannot Claim Digital Progress While Millions Remain Digitally Excluded

The problem goes beyond inactive bank accounts or poor internet connections. It concerns who gets the opportunity to learn, earn, build businesses and participate in the economy.

Simply opening millions of accounts does not constitute genuine financial inclusion. Installing QR codes does not create a digital economy. And declaring connectivity available does not mean that ordinary citizens can actually afford to use it.

Without affordable devices, dependable broadband, digital skills and meaningful economic opportunities, Pakistan risks creating a population that is technically connected but economically excluded.

What Pakistan Must Do

Pakistan’s telecommunications authorities need to prioritise affordable broadband in rural and underserved regions instead of allowing the digital divide to widen further. Low-income households also need practical assistance in obtaining smartphones and other essential devices.

Digital literacy programmes must move beyond teaching people how to open accounts. Citizens need the skills and confidence to use digital finance, education, employment and commercial platforms regularly and safely.

Local-language digital content must also become a priority if Pakistan wants its digital economy to reach beyond educated and better-connected urban populations.

The challenge is therefore much bigger than internet connectivity. It is about economic mobility.

Unless Pakistan tackles the underlying affordability, infrastructure, skills and access barriers together, its digital transformation risks becoming another example of a modernisation agenda that looks impressive from the outside while leaving millions of ordinary citizens behind.