Here we go again. It feels like a billion dollars of easy money are just within reach. But we’ve been here before – and the billion dollars never materialised. The story revolves around the elusive 3G licenses and their auction in Pakistan, where neighbouring Afghanistan has already moved on to 4G. Who gets the licenses, […]
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered the government to complete the process of appointing the chairman and three members of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in 10 days after processing the 165 applications received for the posts. The telecommunication sector is running virtually without a regulator as the post of its chairman has been vacant […]
KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has never stopped SMS and call Bundle packages of cellular mobile operators (CMOs) as ‘wrongly reported by a section of the press’, the telecom regulatory body clarified on Friday. The federal body responsible for enforcing telecom regulations issued a clarification regarding news reports on PTA’s latest letter (dated August 29) […]
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has so far blocked over 21,000 websites containing blasphemous material and while the process is still continuing a report will be sent to the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Monday to decide if the YouTube should be reopened. After verifying the strength of the response mechanism placed by the PTA to […]
THE PTA has created further confusion among those who are already paying heavy taxes on mobile usage. The orders appeared on the web. The most important matter for the PTA to look into right now is unregistered SIMs upon which action has been sought for quite some time. Unregistered SIMs are blatantly used by gangsters […]
LAHORE: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has instructed all the cellular operators of the country to immediately stop all kinds of chat packages, including voice and SMS, at any time of the day. According to directive No CPD-1(227) 13-PTA, dated August 29 2013 with subject ‘Directive relating to packages offered by CMTOs contrary to moral […]
ISLAMABAD: Moralists in Pakistan had long been crying that the night packages offered by the mobile phone companies are “a bad influence” on the society. This week the matter came to a head in the Senate. Angry senators demanded that the government take action to stop the services. But how? Technically, there exists no law […]
The writer is one of the directors at Bolo Bhi and has previously worked at Newsline It is not about YouTube, just like it was never about Facebook in 2010. The issue was never limited to the reopening of particular platforms which were accessed through the use of proxies by Pakistanis despite the bans in […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has claimed to have taken numerous measures to curb the menace of grey trafficking that is resulting in huge revenue losses to the exchequer. According to the official documents available with Business Recorder, to curb the menace of grey traffic, PTA has taken effective measures both technical and regulatory, which […]
ISLAMABAD: Next time your mobile phone call drops or goes bad suddenly, don’t blame just the cellular company. Most probably the culprit may be nearby but hidden – the security jammers. Customers’ ire makes the cellular companies take their complaints to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to identify and locate the cause. The PTA is […]
ISLAMABAD: When Max Kelly left his job of the chief security officer at the Facebook in 2010, he just disappeared from the screens of the virtual world – only to be discovered after Edward Snowden rocked the real world with his revelations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) had been snooping on the cyber […]
“Do you use YouTube, Minister?” I asked. “No, because it is not allowed,” she replied sounding a little taken aback. “Do you think your internet experience has been qualitatively compromised since that ban?” I followed up. “Yes, of course, it has,” she replied again. I thanked her for her time and left her office. My […]
ISLAMABAD: The government is facing an estimated revenue loss of Rs800 million per month on account of ‘grey telephony’, The Express Tribune has learnt. “Network operators in Pakistan cannot detect over 70% of illegal telephonic traffic. The state lacks resources to keep the whole telecom sector under the scanner,” FIA Director General Saud Mirza told […]
The many freedoms the Pakistani press and media enjoy today are a result of years of vibrant activism and struggle by journalists and civil society. The state (and all its various manifestations) unable to have direct control (of privately owned media) because of decent media laws, now employs subversive tactics to keep things under control. […]
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