PTA Registers Over 20,000 VPNs Under New Whitelisting Operation

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has registered 20,437 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) under its whitelisting operation, encompassing 1,422 companies. Of these, 19,840 VPNs belong to 1,286 VPN companies, while 180 VPNs have been registered from 136 freelancer companies. PTA has registered 417 VPNs associated with the Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA). This registration initiative is part of a broader effort to regulate VPN usage across the country. According to the IT Ministry document, Clause 37 (1) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 mandates the PTA to block unlawful online content. However, despite geo-blocking measures at the gateway level, users can still access restricted content via VPNs, which encrypt traffic and route it through foreign servers, bypassing state-imposed restrictions. This practice poses a challenge for the PTA as VPN users can evade the national policy on banned content by utilizing private traffic to circumvent gateway controls. The IT Ministry states that the PTA has been registering VPNs since December 2010 under a directive issued on December 2, 2010, as per the Monitoring and Reconciliation of Telephonic Traffic (MRTT) Regulation 2010, clause 6. Courts have also directed the PTA to take all necessary measures to block unlawful content effectively. Despite the challenges posed by VPNs, they are widely used by legitimate businesses such as software houses, call centers, and foreign missions for secure private network management. To balance these needs while preventing misuse, the PTA has issued public notices for VPN registration. The Ministry of Information Technology (IT) has highlighted that the PTA has handed over IP whitelisting controls to the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) to manage “One Window Operations” for call centers and freelancers. PTA has facilitated VPN registration for companies and freelancers, working closely with stakeholders such as the Ministry of IT, PSEB, and P@SHA. However, the PTA faces significant challenges in effectively fulfilling its obligations under PECA without controlling VPN misuse.