Tag: PTA

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has extended the last date for registration of Virtual Private Network (VPN) up to December 31, 2022.

The PTA said that usage of any mode of communication such as VPN by means of which communication becomes hidden or encrypted is a violation of PTA regulations.

The authority said it had extended the date for VPN registration and also simplified the process. “Now public and private sector organizations, foreign missions and freelancers, who desire to use VPN for their legitimate purposes, must register their VPN by using online application available at https://ipregistration.pta.gov.pk by December 31, 2022, to avoid disruption.

The PTA further said that application for VPN registration will only be accepted through above mentioned online application. “Application communicated through any other means shall not acceptable,” it added.

According to the PTA following features are available in portal for IP Whitelisting and VPN Registration: VPN registration for Companies; VPN registration for free lancers having letter of authentication; IP Whitelisting for Call Centers; and IP Whitelisting for Video Conference for organizations and companies.

The authority highlighted documents required for VPN registration and said that PTA had reduced documentation for VPN registration and IP Whitelisting and following documents would be required:

VPN for Companies:

CNIC of applicant (Both sides)

Letter of Incorporation or proof of Active tax payer

VPN for free lancers

CNIC of applicant (Both sides)

Letter of Authentication from employer / business concern

Call Centers

CNIC of applicant (Both sides)

Letter of Incorporation or proof of Active tax payer

Call Center registration Certificate from PSEB

Fee in case of five or more IP addresses (including previously whitelisted IP addresses)

Video Conferencing

CNIC of applicant (Both sides)

Letter of Incorporation / letter from Government organizations / companies

Fee in case of five or more IP addresses (including previously whitelisted IP addresses)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday said submarine cable infrastructure has been completed for connectivity from Pakistan to France.

Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) Cable International Network Co. Ltd has completed the construction of a submarine cable infrastructure, providing connectivity from Karachi to Marseille, France.

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The Pakistan-Egypt segment connects Karachi and Zafarana, Egypt total length of which is 5,800 KM. The connectivity from Pakistan to France is now fully completed and ready for service.

This was informed by the management of PEACE Cable whose officials held online and in person meeting with Chairman PTA, Maj. Gen. Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) at PTA Headquarters.

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The delegation comprised of Peace Management COO, Sun Xiaohua, Peace Management Director Zhang Donghai, Commercial Director Chirs Zhang, (Online) and Peace Cable, Country Manager Pakistan, Shoaib Ashfaq Qureshi, (In Person).

The delegation expressed its interest for investment opportunities in Pakistan and discussed future plans for development of innovative digital & technology solutions to accelerate progress towards Digitally Connected Pakistan.

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PEACE cable is a 15,000 km submarine cable from Pakistan to France, extended from Pakistan to Singapore for an additional 6,500km, with main trunk landing in Singapore, Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt and France and branches to the Maldives, Malta, Cyprus, etc.

This submarine cable adds an ultra-fast, high capacity, low latency and redundant connectivity to Pakistan’s international connectivity.

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ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Norway Per Albert Ilsaas on Monday called on Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Maj General Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad.

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During the meeting, matters of mutual interests including investment opportunities for Norwegian technology companies in Pakistan’s ICT sector were discussed.

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Chairman PTA also apprised the Ambassador about expansion and digital innovation taking place in Pakistan’s ICT sector. 

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KARACHI: Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are worried over continuous power outages and imposition of 100 per cent cash margin on import of certain phone equipment.

The CMOs in a letter to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) highlighted certain issues that were hampering the quality of service (QoS).

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They said that CMOs as some of the leading corporate entities of the country and law abiding licensees of the authority have always strived to comply to all applicable License conditions, rules and regulations including provision of requisite level of quality, network and service availability.

The CMOs highlighted some critical economy-wide factors which are directly impeding and are expected to further severely constrain the operators’ ability to meet the existing QoS obligations/performance KPIs as well as our Network Rollout Obligations under the new License conditions.

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They said the current electricity shortfall, which is increasing with every passing day, is causing unplanned and prolonged load shedding nationwide especially in rural areas. Despite having backup power available in the form of generators/batteries, cellular operators are still finding it almost impossible to cope with the quantum of these power outages that are beyond our dimensioned backup capacity.

Moreover, the rapidly escalating fuel prices are not only placing extra constraints on provision of generators backup for our BTS sites, round the clock. This extra fuel consumption for back up purposes is also contributing to further demand for fuel rather than supporting the government objective of rationalizing fuel consumption across the board in these testing times. Considering the current situation, maintaining network availability and delivering QoS performance KPIs have become a massive challenge for the CMOs.

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In addition, recent increase in Letter of Credit (LC) cash margin on all telecom equipment imports from 10 per cent to 100 per cent by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also applies to backup batteries.

Hence the imposition of increased LC cash margin has not only severely dented our ability to rollout more sites in order to meet the licensed QoS requirements, it also drastically impedes addition of more backup capacity to counter these extended power outages.

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In view of the above highlighted critical issues, we have a very serious apprehension that our licensing QoS KPIs and Network Rollout targets will be further affected. We are taking this opportunity to timely inform PTA and trust that the Authority will take into account the circumstances beyond our control while evaluating the license compliance and enforcement matters.

They further highlighted the most recent fiscal and political developments have further impacted the already deteriorating health of capital-intensive telecom sector in Pakistan; and in the absence of immediate reversal of adverse directive(s) and elimination of electricity load shedding, the telecom operators would unfortunately be constrained to notify Force Majeure situation under special circumstances, outside the control of the major Telecom service providers of Pakistan.

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The CMOs requested to indulge the Authority with the relevant quarters for favorable decisions in order to enable the telecom industry to keep providing essential telecoms service to the masses.