ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Lieutenant General (Retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman said no VPN has been blocked so far in Pakistan.
“I had told in the assembly that while we can block VPNs, we will not do so,” he recalled, adding that VPN registration is now allowed through mobile numbers.
The chairman stated this during a press briefing when PTA’s DG Commercial Arif Sargana presented the annual digital report.
The PTA chairman said there are over 33,000 registered VPNs in the country. He emphasized that services are only blocked following judicial orders or government instructions. VPN users who are registered do not face any issues, and data services are not interrupted on landlines, he said.
During the presser, PTA officials said companies with poor service are fined, adding that so far, fines of approximately Rs68 million have been imposed. However, recovery of these fines is limited, as many companies challenge them in legal forums.
They also announced that companies providing VPN services to general consumers will be required to register. Once these VPN companies are registered, their services will be accessible to all users. This system is already in place in India, where companies are required to keep logs for one year.
On the other hand, Sargana said despite economic challenges, there has been a 17% increase in the telecom sector, and in terms of cybersecurity, Pakistan ranks among the top 40 countries in the world. He also highlighted the significant presence of women in digital inclusion.
