No Sale of Mobile Phones in the Country without PTA approval

No Sale of Mobile Phones in the Country without PTA approval. Finally, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to bar the sale of the mobile phones/Smartphones without IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers or its prior  approval. By keeping in view the security situation and ongoing terrorism  in the country, PTA has taken this decision.
The report, published in Dawn News revealed that PTA has written down to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and demanded that customs officials  will not clear any consignments of mobile phones unless the importer gets the PTA approval of clearance. Furthermore, the importers and mobile phone maker will  have to  submit the IMEI number of each of the cellphones sold in the markets of the country. It is not clear yet whether PTA is going to fix a fee for getting approval or not.
PTA has not finalized yet if it is going to fix a fee for the type approval or not. PTA is making use of the to get approval under section 29 of the Pakistan Telecommunications (Re-anisation) Act, 1996.

YouTube.com.pk will soon be accessible in Pakistan

YouTube.com.pk  will soon be accessible in Pakistan. There is a good news for Pakistanis that the YouTube.com.pk soon be accessible in Pakistan as Google is planning to localize the Video sharing website. Some Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) officials related to this matter have told  to media that YouTube is going to launch his sub-domain in Pakistan soon.
The Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications Anusha Rehman said if they met the Google management requirements the chances of YouTube restoration in the country are bright. She told this at the Senate Standing Committee on Tuesday. She told that committee that the government had succeeded in convincing the Google management about religious sensitivities of Pakistanis and in this come into practice it would also be easier for the local search engine to block any blasphemous or objectionable content from the website.
She said that the Google management of YouTube is willing to localize the video sharing website in the country but will not be responsible if any objectionable content uploaded on the website as this will be a personal action of the individual.
She added that the PTA is working on a draft ordinance which will be practiced by the ministry for enactment as law. If the YouTube be localized in Pakistan to remove the objectionable content from the website would be easier, instead of installing expensive filtration softwares.
Google removed the Anti-Islamic content from the website at the request of different Islamic countries including Saudi Arabi,  Libya, Egypt and Iraq by allocating them special subdomain for their countries because they met the Google requirements. By Localizing the video sharing website Google would not be infringing its own company law of encumbering freedom of expression.  The officials of ministry of IT are demanding to eradicate profanity content first and also the endorsement of draft from both national assembly and senate for launching the youtube.com.pk in the country.

PTA blocked IPs, Mobile SIMs and Devices to control Grey Traffic

PTA blocked IPs, Mobile SIMs and Devices to control Grey Traffic. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in an effort to deal with the grey traffic has blocked more than 200,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, 1,382 Mobile SIMs and 3,160 phones / devices, during the last month. The sources said that the PTA blocked IPs, Mobile SIMs and cell phones via their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers. The sources added that the PTA grey traffic monitoring system has been working since October 2013. It is potent enough to automatically block those IPs that are not in the white list of PTA.

 PTA arranged a high level meeting, chaired by PTA Chairman, to review the progress of the gay traffic monitoring system. PTA has conducted an extensive audit of the whitelist IPs after the installation of the grey traffic monitoring equipment. Sources said that they got the whitelist IPs after the strict check and a stringent SOP. As a result, the IP whitelist has been rationalized and reduced from 51,000 to 10,360. PTA has installed the grey traffic monitoring equipment at the directives of the Grey Traffic Monitoring Committee.
Additionally, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority had started a 24/7 complaint center, where complainants can send their complaints through emails, toll free phone, fax and Free SMS. The complaints can be sent at the following;
complaint@pta.gov.pk
Toll free phone number 080055055
Fax 051-2878127
Free SMS on 668
Complainants can report numbers in case of any local number appears when receiving an international call.

Until now 1,944 complaints have been received through this facility. The numbers reported are not just blocked but are also investigated for legal action.
 PTA detected grey traffic in the recent case and  after further investigation it was recognized that a Long Distance and International (LDI) operator Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd was involved in it.  In order to bring the culprit under law, a joint raid was conducted by the PTA and the FIA, in which illegal terminating equipment was sequestered and culprits were apprehended. The initial estimate suggested that a total of 11 million minutes per month were being illegitimately carried into Pakistan by Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd.
The PTA and FIA also conducted two other successful raids in Karachi and confiscated nine gateways.

SC orders to appoint PTA Chairman in 15 days

Supreme Court of Pakistan has directed the government to appoint the members and chairman of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in the next 15 days while keeping in view the rules and regulations of the institution. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary also ordered that the auction of 3G license must be done 15 days after the appointment of members and chairman of PTA.
The chief justice said,

“The appointments should be made before proceeding with the 3G licence auction.”

Breaking News: PTA directs cellular operators to halt All Voice and SMS bundles

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has directed all the cellular operators in Pakistan to halt all the Voice and SMS bundles that are being offered to their subscribers. PTA took this decision by keeping in view the moral values of society. Currently, the cellular companies are offering daily, weekly, fortnightly and monthly packages and according to PTA directives the telecom operators have to submit a compliance report to the authority by 2^nd September, 2013.

Cellular Services to remain suspended from 4PM to 8PM in Various Cities of Pakistan

Today, the Muslim community is celebrating Youm-e-Ali (RA) in the country and the government of Pakistan ordered to suspend the cellular service in the different cities including Karachi, Quetta, Lahore Multan, Sialkot, Sargodha and other cities, to avoid any unhappy incident.Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has directed all the cellular operators in the country to suspend their wireless and cellular services in various cities today.READ MORE

Government may restore YouTube After Eid-ul-Fitr

There are reports that Pakistani Government may restore video sharing website, YouTube after Eid-ul-Fitr. We earlier informed you that the minister of Telecom and Information Technology (IT) Anusha Rehman has formed an IT members committee to find the possible solutions for the restoration of YouTube in the country due to the inability of PTA to remove the objectionable content on the video sharing website. The government said that all stakeholders will be taken
into confidence before the restoration of YouTube.READ MORE

Unblocking of Blasphemous content on YouTube become Headache for PTA and IT Ministry

Unblocking of Blasphemous content on YouTube become Headache for PTA and IT Ministry. It is reported that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Information Technology (IT) ministry are unable to block the blasphemous content on the video sharing site YouTube due to the inaccessibility of technology. Now the Lahore High Court has ordered them to evaluate the technology that makes them able to block the blasphemous
videos on the website.

Chances of YouTube restoration are Bright

There are bright chances of YouTube restoration in Pakistan in the first week of May, said reports. He sources claimed that the ban on video sharing website is probably to be lifted in the first week of May as the administration of Google has approached the Ministry of Information Technology in a bid to block the anti-Islamic content on the YouTube permanently. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked the access of YouTube in Pakistan due to the blasphemous movie content available at the website.