• Pakistan grants first VPN

    From Mike Powell@1:2320/105 to All on Wed Apr 23 08:52:00 2025
    Pakistan grants first VPN licenses in a bid to regulate VPN usage in the country

    Date:
    Tue, 22 Apr 2025 16:08:00 +0000

    Description:
    The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) urges all VPN providers to obtain a license to avoid potential service disruptions. Here's all you need
    to know.

    FULL STORY

    Pakistan's telecom authority continues its quest to regulate the use of unlicensed VPNs across the country despite pushbacks.

    On April 18, 2025, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) granted the needed license to three companies in order to provide their services in the country. The Authority now urges all VPN providers operating in Pakistan to obtain a license to avoid potential service disruptions.

    All this comes as increasingly more Pakistanis have been using some of the
    best VPN services to access X, which has been blocked since February 2024,
    and other restricted social media platforms.

    The end of unlicensed VPNs in Pakistan?

    "The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has commenced the licensing
    of Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers under the Class License
    for the Provision of Data Services in Pakistan. As part of this process, PTA has already granted Class Licenses to provide VPN services to three
    companies," the PTA wrote in an official announcement .

    The plan for a new licensing category for VPN providers was first unveiled in December last year in a bid to regulate Pakistan VPN usage . Companies need
    to apply for a permit to operate within the country and avoid potential
    blocks.

    As the Pakistani English-speaking newspaper The Dawn pointed out at the time, the PTA plan envisages local companies to provide VPN or proxy services to citizens, instead of foreign companies, which are more difficult to control.

    This may mean the anonymity of Pakistani VPN users could be compromised when using a licensed provider as authorities may be able to monitor VPN traffic.

    As mentioned earlier, the Authority is now urging all VPN providers operating in the country to apply for the needed license.

    "Timely licensing will help prevent potential service disruptions and ensure uninterrupted access for their customers," wrote the PTA.

    VPN services remain a necessary tool at the time of writing to keep accessing all the main social media platforms in Pakistan, including X, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and even Bluesky.

    Given last year's failures in successfully regulating VPN usage in Pakistan authorities were forced to withdraw the ban on unregistered services due to a lack of legal grounds to ban VPNs it's difficult to predict what's at stake for VPN users in the country.

    Talking to TechRadar back in December, Proton VPN confirmed that if the PTA's VPN framework is eventually enforced for all providers, the company's
    response would be to replace its physical servers with its Smart Routing technology, as the company did in India in 2022.

    TechRadar has approached some of the top providers for comment on the matter, but we are still waiting for a response at the time of writing.

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    Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/pakistan-grants-first-vpn-l icenses-in-a-bid-to-regulate-vpn-usage-in-the-country

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