PTA can but won’t block VPNs, says telecom regulator chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Maj Gen (R) Hafeez-Ur-Rehman said that the VPN could be blocked but the decision to this effect would have to be taken by the government.

He said that PTA did neither block VPN nor it would do it. The VPNs can be blocked but the decision in this regard has to be taken by the government, arguing that the authority was only an execution agency.

On this occasion, Chairman of Senate Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani called upon the government to work for reducing digital divide between urban and rural areas and work for implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions in all sectors.

While addressing the National Broadband Network Forum 2024, organised by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in collaboration with Huawei, the Senate chairman said that the government should provide high quality internet and information technology services to the general public.

To achieve this, the government has to remove barriers for internet efficiency, and public–private partnership is needed to forward the digital agenda of the government, he added. Aamir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz said that the mistakes of previous spectrum auction should not be repeated in the upcoming 5G auction scheduled for April 2025. 

He further said that 4G speed, which currently stands at 15 Mbps, could be increased to 100 Mbps.

He demanded of the authorities to devise policies for enhancing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) from around $1 to the world average of around $2.5. The Minister of State for IT, Shiza Fatima, assured the government’s continued support to the telecom sector in bridging the digital divide.

While acknowledging the challenges faced by the IT and telecom sector in the country, she said that the challenges were related to security, cyber security, and the usage of technology by the extremists.

The minister said that the government was taking steps to improve internet speed and expressed the confidence that satellite based internet would further help spread of internet across the country. She added that the cyber security challenge was the need of hour and several advanced countries have introduced legislations to curtail internet for children.

Secretary MoIT Zarar Khan, announced that sustained efforts were underway towards building a digitally inclusive Pakistan, but added that the demand of the IT industry to reduce taxation can be considered if it was ensured that the tax savings would be invested in IT and telecom infrastructure only.