KARACHI: Dispelling the impression that internet had been a recurring problem over the past year, IT Minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja maintains that the number of internet users in the country had grown over the past year. In a statement, the minister said that an overall statistical evaluation of Pakistan’s exports saw a 33 per cent growth over five months, “a mark that was inconceivable had internet been a recurrent norm”. The comparative growth of internet users from 2023 to 2024 was up by 25 pc, she said, adding that this was a “reflection of the tedious and committed efforts put together [sic] by the IT ministry regarding internet connectivity”. Last week, a report from Top10VPN.com, an independent VPN revie­w­­er, claimed that the cumulative financial impact of internet shutdowns and outages in Pakistan during 2024 was $1.62bn. However, Ms Khawaja that fixed line or broadband internet was never shut and “the IT industry is fully functional, apart from the brief outage experienced during the months of August and September”. She claimed that the information regarding internet closures had been “far exaggerated than where it truly stands”.