PTA whitelists 20,437 VPNs to regulate private networks

ISLAMABAD: To regulate VPN usage across the country, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has whitelisted 20,437 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).

According to the details, PTA whitelisted VPNs of over 1,422 companies including 136 freelancer companies. The telecom authority also registered 417 VPNs associated with the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA).

The Ministry of Information Technology has said that the telecom watchdog has handed over IP whitelisting controls to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) to manage “One Window Operations” for call centers and freelancers.

This allows the PTA to facilitate VPN registration for companies and freelancers, working closely with stakeholders like the Ministry of IT, PSEB, and the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA).

Recently, the PTA under Clause 37 (1) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 initiated measures to block unlawful online content. However, users can still access restricted content via VPNs.

This practice poses a challenge for the PTA as VPN users can bypass the state-imposed restriction on unlawful content on social media.

While VPNs pose challenges for the PTA, they are widely used by legitimate IT businesses for secure private network management. To balance these needs while preventing misuse, the PTA has issued public notices for VPN registration.