The PTA termed the former IT secretary’s directive as illegal

Islamabad:

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has informed a parliamentary committee that a former IT secretary had issued an illegal policy directive allowing certain long distance and international (LDI) service providers to pay fees in installments.

Former IT secretary Capt (Retd) Muhammad Mehmood had been removed after a controversy erupted over the leave, which was beyond his purview and an illegal act.

The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications held a meeting on Monday, headed by Senator Palwasha Khan, to discuss the issues facing the telecom sector. Giving tax exemption of Rs 54 billion to LDI companies was also discussed. However, IT ministry officials distanced themselves from the decision taken by the former secretary.

The committee chairman questioned the legality of the former secretary’s policy directive.

A legal member of the IT ministry said he had not been consulted on the policy directive and was on vacation at the time. However, the telecommunications member indicated that there was pressure to transfer the file quickly.

Briefing the Senate panel on the matter, the PTA president observed that the former IT secretary had issued a policy directive beyond his purview and the matter was also discussed in the cabinet. He revealed that five LDI companies were willing to pay the required fee, although some of the companies filed court cases.

He pointed out that the LDI companies’ licenses expired in July and August and legal proceedings are currently underway. “Right now, there are about 15 cases in court,” he said. Senator Anusha Rehman asked if 15 LDI companies had the fiber optic cable and noted that four companies were particularly active in influencing policy makers.

IT ministry officials acknowledged that the LDI companies’ licenses expire in 2024, adding that authorities are assessing whether additional licenses are necessary. Anusha Rehman, while pointing out that non-renewal of licenses can lead to financial losses, questioned why installment payments, which were allowed in 2020, “are not offered now”.

The PTA chairman responded that he was not aware of the relief being provided to LDI operators in 2020, but confirmed that a company had recently requested payments in installments.

Anusha Rehman criticized the “wrong letter” issued by the secretary in 2020 and underlined the need for a clear policy direction from the federal government. Expressing concern over long waiting orders from the courts, he questioned the effectiveness of the legal team.

Senator Humayun Mohmand questioned the shutdown of X, formerly Twitter, across Pakistan, asking why the government was using the platform over Virtual Private Network (VPN) if it considered it problematic. The PTA president pointed out that X was widely used around the world, often through VPN registration, but warned that free VPNs could prove dangerous. Anusha Rehman stressed the need to remove illegal and harmful content from the internet to protect young people, but added that companies often claim that such content does not violate the law. He expressed the expectation that the PTA chief would resolve these issues.

According to the chairman of the telecom authority, the PTA receives about 150 complaints daily against social media companies, with 98% related to TikTok, 48% to Meta and 52% to YouTube.

Content is blocked when it violates Pakistani laws and the X case is currently under review in the High Courts of Islamabad, Sindh and Lahore, he said.

Senator Humayun Mohmand asked about the legality of using a VPN to access X, to which interior ministry officials acknowledged that it was illegal. The PTA chairman highlighted that efforts are being made to register VPNs and over 20,000 VPNs have already been registered.

It was revealed that the IT minister had been removed from the boards of two subsidiaries of the IT Ministry – Universal Service Fund (USF) and Ignite. Anusha Rehman questioned why the IT and Telecom Minister no longer chairs the boards of these organizations.

IT ministry officials explained that under the SOEs Act, board members must now be from the private sector and hence the chairman of the board was also from the private sector.

In the meeting, officials of the establishment department briefed about the appointment of IT and telecom secretary. They stated that in the past officers were appointed from outside the department, adding that both the IT and Law Ministries had appointed officers from abroad. They said 84 applications have been received, of which 77 have been processed.