Shaping Pakistan’s digital future

Strengthening Pakistan’s vibrant gaming community

Telenor Pakistan created Pakistan’s first Esports platform with the launch of GameBird in 2022. An all-in-one esports and gaming platform, it connected players, developers, and fans through tournaments, live streams, and community engagement. At launch, the platform had 50,000 active members and 140,000 unique monthly visitors.

GameBird athletes notably represented Pakistan at various tournaments worldwide, including the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Global Esports Games in Istanbul, GET Riyadh, FreeFire World Series and Red Bull Campus Clutch Series in Brazil.

In 2025, GameBird was re-launched with an expanded vision, enhanced features, and stronger partnerships. As part of the relaunch, GameBird hosted a major PUBG Mobile tournament with over 1,000 participants, including international professionals, achieving more than 800,000 views across social platforms.

Today, GameBird maintains a strong digital presence with 70,000+ followers, YouTube streams averaging 20,000 views, and over 1 million total views across social media in six months. Its active Facebook and WhatsApp communities of 5,000+ members further reinforce its growing engagement.

Pakistan’s first digital bank

In 2009, Telenor Group worked with Tameer Bank to create Telenor Micro Finance Bank, introducing Easypaisa as the first mobile banking platform in Pakistan.

Easypaisa pioneered branchless banking, making secure financial services accessible to millions who had never set foot in a traditional bank. Today, it has over 55 million registered users, equivalent to one in every four Pakistani adults and a robust 31% women user base.

In 2024, the platform processed 2.7 billion transactions valued at PKR 9.5 trillion, representing nearly 9% of the nation’s GDP. Every month, nearly 19 million Pakistanis rely on Easypaisa for payments, savings, insurance, and more.

In 2019, Telenor Group inked a partnership with Ant Financial. This paved the way for Easypaisa to become an independent Mobile Financial Services company, separate from Telenor Pakistan.

In January 2025, Easypaisa became the first digital bank to receive approval for commercial operations in Pakistan. This milestone meant millions could access comprehensive banking solutions, current and savings accounts, digital lending, wealth management, international remittances, and insurance, entirely online, without ever visiting a branch.

Operating now as an Easypaisa Digital Bank, it brings financial empowerment to millions across Pakistan, shaping a more inclusive, prosperous, and empowered society for all.

Easypaisa continues to operate as an independent business co-owned by Telenor Group and Ant Financial and is not part of the Telenor Pakistan sale to PTCL.

Transforming rural Pakistan: Bridging the information gap for millions of farmers

Telenor Pakistan pioneered digital agriculture solutions starting  2015, scaling from tens of thousands of active users to over 16 million farmers nationwide. Telenor Pakistan embarked on this journey to close the ‘information gap’ for Pakistan’s rural or agricultural value chain.

This journey of innovation was internationally recognised when Telenor Pakistan’s open approach to mobile agriculture won the ITU’s Innovation Challenge Awards 2019, underscoring its role as a leader in digital inclusion.

Through groundbreaking initiatives like Khushaal Zameendar and Khushaal Watan & Zamindar, Telenor Pakistan delivered actionable, data-driven crop advisories, climate-smart practices, and market access to millions.

Khushaal Zameendar, launched in 2015, provided twice-daily weather, crop, and livestock advisories via SMS and IVR, reaching around 60,000 farmers by mid-2016. Building on this success, Khushaal Watan & Zamindar introduced advanced advisory services, video consultations, and pest alerts, for over 16 million farmers across the country.

By combining cutting-edge technology with deep cultural relevance, these platforms transformed traditional farming into digitally connected livelihoods.

Driving Startup Innovation in Pakistan

Telenor Velocity

Since its launch in 2016, Telenor Pakistan’s Velocity program had been a key driving force behind the country’s digital innovation ecosystem, while initiatives like Startup Garage and Activate enabled innovation from within the organisation. Through eight cohorts, Velocity has accelerated 42 startups, enabling them to raise over USD 6.8 million and scale impactful solutions across education, health, agritech, and IoT.

Graduates from these programs introduced transformative solutions and digital innovation that address Pakistan’s challenges, from smart farming and solar-hybrid energy systems to AI-powered education and wearable sports analytics. These startups are catalysts for progress, shaping a smarter, more connected, and resilient society.

Velocity’s influence extends beyond funding and mentorship. By collaborating with global leaders like Google, GSMA and Invest2Innovate (i2i), its Developers programme nurtured digital talent and fostered a culture of open innovation.

Notable Alumni

• Dot & Line – Online tutoring platform connecting students with certified educators.
• Maqsad – Bilingual learning app transforming academic education.
• Cricflex – Patented wearable analytics for cricket performance.
• Sehat Kahani – A health-tech platform delivering telemedicine services through female doctors, integrated into the My Telenor App to make affordable healthcare accessible nationwide.
• Fori Mazdoori – digital service changing the way labour workers find jobs

National Incubation Centre Islamabad

Telenor Pakistan worked with various incubators/accelerators, like the NIC Islamabad, a government-initiated startup ecosystem, to support and accelerate startups across Pakistan, providing access to its customer base, data-analytics, APIs (e.g. for payments, SMS, telecom services), integration opportunities, and mentoring.

Kickstarting Pakistan’s IoT ecosystem

Telenor Pakistan launched Pakistan’s first NB-IoT network in 2019, enabling low-power connectivity for applications like fleet management, smart metering and agriculture sensors. This early introduction of IoT laid the foundation for connected solutions in Pakistan, from smart homes to industrial and civil infrastructure applications.

Telenor Pakistan’s IoT portfolio included energy monitoring, cold-chain solutions, and global connectivity via Telenor IoT Connect, helping businesses scale with ease. By enabling real-time insights in agriculture, energy, transport, and governance, Telenor Pakistan’s IoT solutions transformed traditional processes into digital ecosystems. They fuelled automation, efficiency, and innovation, laying the foundation for smart cities, sustainable industries, and inclusive economic growth.