ISLAMABAD: A senior official of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Thursday rejected allegations that a national firewall system was causing disruptions to 4G Internet connections across the country, blaming the “slow” Internet on an outdated infrastructure and rising data consumption.

The denial from the PTA comes as Pakistani users across the country complain of sluggish 4G Internet connection, citing disruptions to calls on messaging platform WhatsApp. Last year, media reports said the government was installing an Internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms, triggering concern among digital rights activists.

Pakistan has frequently blocked the Internet and social media applications in the name of national security in recent years. In a report released earlier this month, global rights organization Amnesty International claimed Pakistan is spying on millions of its citizens using a phone-tapping system and a Chinese-built Internet firewall that censors social media. The rights watchdog claimed that the WMS 2.0 firewall, which inspects Internet traffic, can block 2 million active sessions at a time.

The government has denied it is using an Internet firewall to censor critics, while official said it would be used to protect government networks from attacks and to allow authorities to identify IP addresses associated with “anti-state propaganda.”

“It is true that 4G speed on cellular networks in Pakistan is slow and it is affecting WhatsApp calls, but this issue is not related to firewall,” Amir Shehzad, director general of licensing at the PTA, told Arab News on Thursday. 

“Firewall is a protection system used globally. It ensures security of the system, not speed.”

He acknowledged that high population density areas such as Lahore’s Shah Alam Market face severe Internet congestion during peak hours. This was due to an overwhelming demand of 4G Internet on a limited infrastructure, Shehzad said. 

With 198 million SIM users and 58 percent of them relying on mobile broadband connection, Shehzad said the country’s four major telecom operators lack sufficient spectrum, towers and fiber connectivity to meet the rising demand of 4G Internet. 

Currently, only 15 percent of Pakistan’s telecom towers are connected via fiber-optic cables, compared with a figure of around 80-90 percent in advanced economies and around 25 percent in neighboring India, Shehzad said.

“There is a dire need for more radio frequency spectrum and the fiberization of towers,” the PTA official noted.

He said that while Pakistan has allocated 274 MHz of spectrum, the government plans to expand this to 600 MHz in the coming months. Shehzad said the average monthly data usage has jumped from 6GB to 8GB per user within a year, fueled by video-sharing mobile applications such as TikTok which has nearly 90 million users in Pakistan.

“With the same number of towers, congestion is the ultimate outcome,” Shehzad said. 

He said the government has also waived its annual fees for fiber installation to incentivize telecom investment. The PTA official said that authorities have realized that people need faster Internet for businesses, services and entertainment.

“So, it is our top priority to enhance speed,” he said, promising improvements in Internet connectivity within 10 months. 

’FIREWALL DOES SLOW DATA’

Digital rights activist Haroon Baloch contested the PTA’s dismissal of the firewall’s role in disrupting Internet, saying that its sluggish speed was not just caused by infrastructural gaps and spectrum shortages alone, but also due to centralized filtering systems introduced by a firewall. 

“Centralized filtering creates bottlenecks, increases latency and disrupts services like WhatsApp calls, degrading Internet quality and potentially infringing on digital rights,” Baloch told Arab News. 

He pointed to European Union nations and South Korea, who maintain high standards of Internet quality through spectrum allocation, competitive pricing and strict benchmarks instead of centralized controls.

A senior executive of a leading telecom operator, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media, echoed these concerns. 

“The firewall does slow data, like a filter on a water pipe reduces the flow,” he said.

The executive added that Pakistan’s telecom sector struggles with some of the world’s lowest average revenue per user (ARPU), making it difficult for companies to invest in more towers or cover costs such as fuel for sites in areas with unreliable power supply. 

“Internationally, operators often have 50 MHz of spectrum, while in Pakistan we have 10 or 12 MHz,” he said. “It is far below what’s required — and it is expensive, as spectrum here is priced in US dollars rather than Pakistani rupees.”