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.

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.