PTA to launch second crackdown on unregistered VPNs

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has begun a second trial of using a new national firewall to block unregistered virtual private networks (VPNs) before launching a full crackdown in December, according to official sources. is

PTA has set a deadline of November 30 for VPN registration. Unregistered VPNs will be blocked from next month. So far, more than 25,000 VPNs have been registered.

The authority aims to speed up the whitelisting and VPN registration procedures. Unregistered VPNs are banned by China, Russia, Iran, Turkey and other countries. Some countries only allow VPNs for business purposes, and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia further prohibit unregistered VPNs. According to PTA officials, use of VPN for business purposes is unrestricted in Pakistan.

Notably, users in Pakistan have been complaining about problems with free VPNs for a few hours now. To access social media site X, many users relied on free VPNs. However, they are now alleging that these services are no longer working.