In a major move against illegal SIM issuance, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have arrested a telecom franchise owner in Mianwali, Punjab. The crackdown, aimed at curbing the unauthorized distribution of SIM cards, underscores the government’s intensified efforts to combat digital fraud and security risks.

The latest arrest follows a broader initiative by the PTA and FIA, which has already led to the detention of at least 54 individuals and the seizure of over 15,000 illegal SIMs across Pakistan. The arrested franchise owner was allegedly engaged in bypassing the Multi-Finger Biometric Verification System (MBVS), a critical security measure meant to prevent identity theft and unauthorized SIM activation.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the PTA confirmed that a joint raid was conducted on a Ufone franchise in Mianwali with the support of the FIA’s Lahore Cyber Crime Circle.

“The franchise was found to be involved in the illegal issuance of SIMs. During the operation, 496 digital fingerprint impressions (single impressions), Biometric Verification System (BVS) devices, two scanners, and a laptop were seized,” the PTA stated.

The FIA has taken the confiscated equipment as evidence, and a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against the franchise owner. Further investigations are underway to identify additional individuals involved in the illicit activity.

The crackdown comes at a time when concerns over cyber fraud, identity theft, and illegal SIM usage are at an all-time high in Pakistan. Fraudulent SIM registrations have been linked to a surge in financial scams, unauthorized international call routing, and even terrorism-related activities. The PTA’s intensified scrutiny highlights the urgent need to enforce stringent telecom regulations and close loopholes in biometric verification processes.

The FIA’s Cyber Crime Circle is spearheading efforts to dismantle illegal SIM networks, following previous high-profile arrests. Last month, a suspect from Lahore’s Gulshan Ali Colony was apprehended for allegedly distributing international SIMs illegally. Additionally, in February, law enforcement agencies recovered over 8,363 unauthorized UK SIMs and registered 21 cases nationwide.

The PTA has reaffirmed its commitment to eradicating illegal SIM issuance, warning telecom operators and franchise owners against any involvement in unlawful activities. With digital security becoming a growing national concern, experts argue that stricter compliance measures and AI-driven monitoring systems should be integrated to prevent fraud at the source.

As investigations continue, industry stakeholders await further action from the authorities, anticipating more arrests and regulatory enhancements to curb illegal telecom operations in Pakistan.

Stay tuned to Techlist for more updates on this developing story.

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Due to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s (PTA) failure to filter or remove sacrilegious information, Wikipedia services have been reduced in the nation.

When asked to prohibit or remove the requested content, Wikipedia sent a notice in accordance with the relevant legal requirements and a court order (s). A chance for a hearing was also offered, but neither the platform obliged by taking down the offensive material nor did it show up in front of the Authority.

Wikipedia’s services have been reduced for 48 hours with the instruction to block/remove the reported content due to the platform’s willful disregard for the PTA‘s directives. If Wikipedia doesn’t comply, the site will be blocked inside Pakistan.

Wikipedia’s services will only be resumed if any reported illegal content has been blocked or removed. According to regional regulations, PTA is dedicated to providing all Pakistani people with a secure online experience.

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In the most recent few months, the PTA taxes on imported cell phones have climbed dramatically. The decline of the rupee and limited State Bank reserves may be to blame for this. Therefore, the government’s current goal is to prevent imports in order to maintain economic stability. However, we won’t think it’s appropriate for a typical user who only imports phones for personal use. This is a smart step for retailers who import phones in large quantities. Anyway, we’ll talk about the new PTA taxes for the iPhone SE 2 and iPhone SE 3 in this blog.

As you can see, the tax for importing an iPhone SE is a huge PKR 50k–60k. The tax pushes the whole cost of the phone above many consumers’ means of affordability. We urge the PTA, the country’s telecom regulator, to waive or reduce tariffs for consumers who simply import smartphones for their own use.

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The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has opted to purchase an automated Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring and benchmarking system for voice, SMS, and data QoS KPIs (KPIs).

The system will contain data collection and analysis (post-processing) modules, as well as related services, to assess voice, SMS, and data QoS KPIs for at least five (5) operators at the same time, with the possibility to extend to include more operators if necessary.

It would also require the measurement of all QoS KPIs. Both data collection and data analysis units should support all technologies, including but not limited to the Global System for Mobile (GSM)/ Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)/ Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA)/High-Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA)/High-Speed Upload Packet Access (HSUPA)/High-Speed Packet Access+ (HSPA+)/Long Term Evolution (LTE)/ Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE)/

The system would have to meet certain requirements, such as the ability to test and benchmark QoS across multiple mobile operators (i.e. continuous measurement of at least five mobile networks), with the goal of replicating end-user experience across various mobile networks, device types, and wireless technologies (i.e. 2G/3G/4G, etc.) currently in use in Pakistan, including AJK and GB.

It should be able to conduct field tests, measure, benchmark, and report QoS Key Advance Indicators (KPIs) as defined in mobile services licensees issued to Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) in Pakistan from time to time, as well as the PTA service quality regulation (Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021).

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A leading internet service provider has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) alleging that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) treated it unfairly when it launched its service in Azad Kashmir (AJK).

Nayatel’s case was heard by Justice Aamer Farooq on Friday. When the PTA began attempts to deliver fibre broadband services in AJK, the petitioner claimed the PTA treated him unfairly.

The Special Communication Organisation (SCO), a government-owned entity that operates commercial telecom business in AJK and GB under the administrative control of the Ministry of IT and Telecom (MOIT), is a government-owned entity that operates under the administrative control of the Ministry of IT and Telecom (MOIT).

PTA has been taking discriminatory actions against Nayatel since the company attempted to enter the AJK’s fibre broadband market, according to the petitioner, including delaying licence applications for more than 270 days when the law required a new licence to be issued in 120 days, delaying commencement certificates without explanation, delaying hearing and decision of appeals that were required by law to be decided in 30 days, and delaying hearing and decision of appeals that were required by law to be decided in 30 days to impair the business.

According to the petition, PTA issued a notice to Nayatel on January 20, 2022, threatening legal action if its CEO raised industry issues and PTA’s discriminatory treatment of other operators in relation to SCO at a national broadband forum in Islamabad on November 10, 2021, where President Arif Alvi was the chief guest. The subject of the SCO receiving free wireless spectrum for cellular mobile services was also brought up.

The PTA, Cabinet Division, and the ministry have all received notices from Justice Aamer Farooq.According to the petition, there was an alleged conflict of interest between PTA Chairman retired Major General Aamir Azeem Bajwa and the SCO because the former was the SCO’s director general for two years before retiring and being inducted as the PTA chairman by the previous government in January 2019.

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Jazz is the most complained about telecommunications operator, according to data from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), with 7,948 complaints. Telenor is the second most complained about telecoms operator, with 5,096 complaints.

With 3,553 complaints, Zong came in third. Ufone received 1,639 complaints about its services. In March 2022, PTA received 216 complaints about basic telephone, of which 205 were resolved. In addition, 582 complaints against ISPs were received, with 571 of them being addressed.

Cellular mobile users make up a significant portion of the total telecom subscriber base. As a result, this portion receives the greatest amount of complaints. By March, there had been 18,247 complaints filed against CMOs. Due to the fact that Jazz is the largest cellular operator in terms of subscriber ratio, the number of complaints was larger.

On the other hand, as of January 2022, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had received 19,067 complaints from telecom customers against various telecom providers, including cellular operators, PTCL, LDIs, WLL operators, and ISPs.

According to the PTA, it was able to settle 18,948 concerns, or 99 percent.

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Zong filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court, requesting that the license renewal process for Jazz be halted.
In its petition, Zong claimed that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Frequency Allocation Board rushed the license renewal process in order to give an unfair advantage to Jazz because Zong’s spectrum has interference, and that Zong was expecting PTA to resolve its faulty spectrum before renewing Jazz’s spectrum.

The petition stated that “PTA’s decision to renew Jazz’s spectrum on an as-is basis would hinder fair competition and put Zong at a disadvantage.”

According to Zong’s petition, Jazz’s license was due to be renewed in July 2022, but the procedure was rushed to provide Jazz an unfair competitive advantage. While accepting the petition, the Islamabad High Court served notice on the MOIT, the PTA, and the FAB.

While taking notice of Jazz’s license renewal over the course of the proceedings, the High Court ruled that the renewal of Jazz’s license based on the policy directive be subject to the petition’s final decision. Zong contends that the 1800Mhz spectrum it was given by PTA and FAB contains interference, and that it, like all other operators, needs a clean spectrum.

Zong has filed court applications claiming that PTA has treated it unfairly and that it is at a disadvantage to other operators who have access to a clear spectrum. Zong expected PTA to re-distribute spectrum in such a way that clean spectrum (from 900Mhz) is evenly allocated to all operators in the market when Jazz’s license was renewed.

Zong claims that, in light of the situation and the fact that Jazz’s license is up for renewal in July 2022, it filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court. The matter was initially scheduled for hearing on April 12, 2022, but due to a lack of time, it was rescheduled for the following day, April 13, 2022.

Jazz quickly signed their license with PTA on the evening of April 12, 2022, and deposited 50 percent of the license money far before of the license expiry date, according to Zong, in an attempt to avoid the legal proceedings. This matter was brought to the court’s attention today, and the court has ordered that the renewal of the license based on the contested policy directive be subject to the petition’s final decision.

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With the help of the telecom sector and other stakeholders, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has put in place a framework to control pornographic content.

“To combat pornographic and indecent content as defined in Section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA 2016), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has implemented a Central Domain Name System (C-DNS) policy enforcement mechanism to ensure the automated effective and seamless blocking of unlawful content in real-time,” according to a news release issued on Tuesday.

The process was launched at PTA Headquarters by the authority.

Months of collaboration and tight cooperation with the telecom sector and other stakeholders went into developing the C-DNS mechanism.

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The Pakistan Telecommunication  Authority (PTA) has urged YouTube to reconsider its decision to prohibit a TV channel managed by the late Dr. Israr Ahmed’s foundation on hate speech grounds.

“The PTA’s unilateral banning of Dr. Israr Ahmed’s channel, a notable Muslim scholar, raises questions about the arbitrary boundaries of online expression,” the PTA wrote in a Tuesday appeal to YouTube. According to PTA sources, the channel in question used to broadcast Dr. Israr Ahmed’s videos that attempted to shed light on the socio-economic structure envisioned by the Holy Quran.

The PTA argued that such movies were merely intended to “educate the audience.”

After Jewish organizations protested that the channel’s programming incited anti-Semitism, YouTube shut it down. Dr. Israr’s channel had about three million subscribers, and his lectures were respected by many individuals in the West.

The station, which is run by Dr. Israr Ahmed’s son, broadcasts recordings of the late scholar’s old remarks. These comprise his thoughts on the end of the world in light of Quranic scriptures and the history of the Jews. The move was denounced by a disciple of Dr. Israr Ahmed as an infringement of free expression by the West.

On his own YouTube channel, engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza said the move reflected the West’s double standard.”They acted only on accusations from Jewish organizations, without listening to the opposing side,” he claimed. Dr. Israr’s “preaching could provoke violence against Jews in the West by Muslims,” according to the complaints filed with YouTube.

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The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority has taken action to prohibit users from uploading and promoting vulgar videos on TikTok.

When sharing details with the Peshawar High Court Bank headed by Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan, the PTA technical director said that so far, it has deleted 9.8 million videos containing indecent content and blocked 720,000 accounts.

For the first time, Pakistan appoints a person to manage content. Prior to this, the social media authorities did not take any action against any obscene content.

The President of the Peshawar High Court, Qaiser Rashid Khan, has agreed that PTA will continue to take action against uploading unethical videos on this application.

The Chief Justice also stated that the authorities did not want to shut down the video-sharing platform. However, obscene and immoral content has a more serious impact on young people’s thinking, and immediate action must be taken to filter it.

The PTA authorities clarified that they have blocked all major websites containing obscene content in Pakistan.

However, in this case, there is still some work to be done. Now, users are careful when uploading content to this video-sharing platform, because PTA is cracking down on such videos and accounts.

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