ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s internet service providers are losing more than a million dollars on a daily basis since the country’s telecommunications regulator has blocked their Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to curb grey telephony, industry giants said on Wednesday.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) recently installed a web management system (WMS) to identify and block any online content classified as unlawful under local laws.
The authority has directed all internet service providers to get their IP addresses whitelisted to continue their services uninterrupted. However, industry giants have termed the authority’s process as “cumbersome, bureaucratic and time-consuming.”
“This new [PTA] regulation has affected around 400 companies and their businesses, and more than 10,000 employees,” Wahaj-us-Siraj of the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) told Arab News on Wednesday.
The association is a private body of 25 broadband service providers in Islamabad, and it has demanded a suspension of the IP blocking instruction for at least three months in a letter to the PTA.
“The PTA takes at least fifteen days to process a company’s whitelisting request … It is unthinkable that any business in the fast-paced world of IT can wait for that long,” he said.
“Our international customers are cancelling their orders and turning to India and Bangladesh … This is costing us over a million dollars per day,” he added.
The companies which are affected by the new regulations include call centers, IT firms, and information technology enabled services and software houses. These companies cannot use video conferencing, virtual private networks (VPNs) and Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIPs), which they routinely employ otherwise to interact with their clients, until their IPs are white-listed.
The association of internet service providers has urged the PTA to create an online portal to process and approve IP address-related requests within 60 minutes.
“In the current situation when Pakistan fights the corona pandemic and countries are enforcing work from home …. PTA is working backwards to block IP addresses to protect certain interest groups,” said the ISPAK letter to the PTA.
The authority, on the other hand, maintained that all education institutes and online businesses can use “legal” VoIP, VPN and video conferencing applications to continue their online activities without any restrictions.
All legal VoIP, VPN and video conferencing apps, such as WhatsApp, Skype, Google Meets, Zoom, Blue Jeans, Cisco WebEx, Team Viewer, Meraki VPN, are available to be used for virtual education and business, the PTA said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The PTA is only taking action against those [who are illegally] using VoIPs and VPNs which causes losses to the national exchequer,” Khurram Ali Mehran, spokesman for the PTA, told Arab News.
He also refuted the internet service providers’ claim that the PTA was taking at least fifteen days to process their whitelisting applications.
“Currently IPs are being whitelisted within 24 hours from applying for the same,” Mehran said. “Applicants have been asked to apply immediately for whitelisting even if all documents are not ready and they can provide the documents later.”
Pakistan's internet service providers flay PTA over IP whitelisting process
https://arab.news/w5aj9
Pakistan's internet service providers flay PTA over IP whitelisting process
- Say the government’s decision to block IP addresses has affected around 400 companies and their businesses
- PTA claims it is taking action against companies to curb grey telephony
Pakistan, China agree to step up counterterrorism coordination, hold regular security talks
- The interior ministers of both countries agree on quarterly working-group meetings, annual high-level talks
- Islamabad says Beijing expressed satisfaction over protection of Chinese citizens and projects in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China agreed on Wednesday to institutionalize closer collaboration on counterterrorism and internal security, committing to regular meetings and expanded coordination amid efforts by both countries to safeguard Chinese nationals and projects amid persistent militant threats in the region.
The agreement was reached during talks between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Chinese counterpart Wang Xiaohong at the headquarters of China’s Ministry of Public Security in Beijing, according to an official statement circulated in Islamabad.
China has raised concerns in the past over attacks targeting its citizens working on infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan. Islamabad has stepped up security deployments and intelligence coordination in response, while Beijing has pushed for more structured and predictable security engagement.
“The two sides discussed joint counterterrorism measures, police training exchange programs and ways to expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest,” Pakistan’s interior ministry said in a statement, adding that the two officials agreed to hold working-level meetings every three months and annual talks at the interior ministers’ level.
Wang expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s steps to protect Chinese citizens and projects, the statement added, praising Pakistan’s counterterrorism measures and internal security initiatives.
China also acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in its fight against militancy, according to the statement.
Naqvi and Wang stressed the need to further improve coordination mechanisms to enhance operational cooperation between the two countries’ security agencies.
His meeting with his Chinese counterpart lasted for over three years.
