Microsoft leaves Pakistan but promises customers won't notice the change

Job cuts aren’t big, symbolism of quitting the world’s fifth-most-populous nation might be

Exclusive Microsoft has decided to close its presence in Pakistan.

News of the closure emerged in a LinkedIn post by Jawwad Rehman, who established and led Microsoft’s Pakistan subsidiary.

A Microsoft spokesperson commented on Rehman’s post as follows

As a part of regular process of business evaluation and optimization, we are changing our operating model in Pakistan. Our customer agreements and service will not be affected by this change.

We will serve our customers through both our strong and extensive partner organization, and other closely located Microsoft offices.

We follow this model successfully in a number of other countries around the world. Our customers remain our top priority and can expect the same high level of service going forward.

Rehman’s post states Microsoft Pakistan was down to a “few remaining employees.” The Register understands that Microsoft’s presence in Pakistan was perhaps just five people and that all local workers lost their jobs.

The software giant’s claim that its decision to leave Pakistan won’t hurt customers therefore seems reasonable.

Pakistan is home to over 250 million people, making it the world’s fifth-most populous country and therefore an obvious target for the technology industry. However, the nation’s politics and governance are tumultuous, with no prime minister in the country’s 75-year history serving a full term.

Tech industry investors have seldom considered the country, in stark contrast to neighbouring India, which in addition to growing its own giants like Infosys and HCL has become a major source of talent for the global tech industry.

Also in the region, cashed-up Gulf states have successfully wooed tech companies. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-largest country by population, has attracted datacenter investments from the likes of Microsoft, AWS, and Alibaba Cloud.

Pakistan’s government has tried to grow its technology industry, and earlier this week reportedly announced a plan to arrange certifications in Microsoft and Google technology for half a million youths. Past efforts included a plan to promote freelance IT workers who serve offshore clients using gig work platforms, but frequent internet shutdowns and content blocks, plus poor broadband infrastructure have hampered that effort.

Microsoft now thinks Pakistan isn’t worthy of even a tiny outpost. ®