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 reviews austerity measures amid Middle East crisis, urges strict nationwide implementation
- Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar chairs review meeting of austerity steps
- Officials briefed on salary cuts, school closures, four‑day week, petrol conservation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Wednesday assessed progress on a sweeping set of austerity measures introduced to mitigate the country’s economic strain from sharply rising global oil prices and supply disruptions linked to the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week announced a series of austerity steps, including a four‑day work week for government offices, requiring 50 percent of staff to work from home, cutting fuel allowances for official vehicles by half, grounding up to 60 percent of the government fleet and closing all schools for two weeks to conserve fuel amid the global oil crisis.
The measures were unveiled in response to global oil market volatility triggered by the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which has disrupted supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz and pushed crude prices sharply higher, straining Pakistan’s heavily import‑dependent energy sector.
“The meeting stressed the importance of strict and transparent adherence to the austerity measures, promoting fiscal responsibility and prudent use of public resources,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar said in a statement.
He was chairing a meeting of the Committee for Monitoring and Implementation of Conservation and Additional Austerity Measures, constituted under the directions of the PM, bringing together federal and provincial officials to review execution of the broad cost‑cutting plan.
Dar emphasized the government’s commitment to enforcing the PM’s austerity steps nationwide. The committee’s review also covered reductions in departmental expenditure, deductions from salaries of senior officials earning over Rs. 300,000 ($1,120), and coordination with provincial administrations to ensure uniform implementation of the plan.
Participants at the meeting reiterated that all ministries and divisions must continue strict monitoring and reporting, with transparent oversight mechanisms, as Pakistan navigates the economic pressures from the prolonged Middle East crisis and its fallout on global energy and trade markets.
