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   Pakistan restarts VPN licensing in fresh bid to control online space   
      
   Date:   
   Thu, 13 Nov 2025 17:41:40 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has authorized five companies   
   to offer "lawful" VPN services, raising fresh concerns about user privacy and   
   internet freedom in the country.   
      
   FULL STORY   
      
   Pakistan's government has taken a significant new step in its long and often   
   controversial campaign to regulate the internet, officially launching a   
   licensing regime for Virtual Private Network (VPN) providers.    
      
   The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on November 13 that   
   it has granted the first set of licenses to five local companies, authorizing   
   them to offer what it calls "secure and lawful" VPN services to the public.    
      
   This move is the latest chapter in a multi-year effort by authorities to   
   regulate VPN usage , tools that have become essential for many Pakistanis to   
   bypass widespread censorship.    
      
   Major social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), have been   
   intermittently or permanently blocked for months, forcing citizens and   
   businesses to turn to VPN services to access the global internet   
   freely.   
      
   For users, one of the immediate changes now is that they can use these   
   specific licensed services without needing to go through the previously   
   cumbersome process of registering their individual IP addresses directly with   
   the PTA. A new framework, old concerns    
      
   While the government presents this as a measure to enhance cybersecurity and   
   provide regulatory convenience, the context of Pakistan's digital landscape   
   raises serious concerns for privacy advocates.    
      
   Previous attempts to ban "unregistered" VPNs have faltered due to legal   
   challenges and public backlash, leading to this new, more structured approach   
   of creating a government-approved pool of providers.    
      
   The core issue remains the potential for surveillance. By forcing VPN   
   providers to be licensed locally , the government makes it easier to compel   
   these companies to monitor user activity and hand over data.    
      
   This stands in stark contrast to the policies of major international   
   providers, many of which have strict no-logs VPN policies and have previously   
   pulled physical servers from countries with intrusive data-retention laws,   
   such as neighboring India.    
      
   Furthermore, this move is happening against the backdrop of reports that   
   Pakistan is working with China to develop a "Great Firewall" style internet   
   censorship system.    
      
   A system of licensed, and therefore controllable, VPNs could be a crucial   
   component of such an infrastructure, ensuring that even citizens attempting    
   to bypass censorship are funneled through state-sanctioned channels.   
      
   What does this mean for Pakistanis?   
      
   Pakistani citizens now have a choice: use one of the five newly licensed,   
   local VPN providers or continue using international, unlicensed services and   
   risk potential disruptions.    
      
   The PTA's announcement frames the new system as a way to promote "regulatory   
   facilitation, user convenience, and enhanced cybersecurity across Pakistans   
   digital ecosystem." However, for many, the greater risk is not malware but    
   the loss of anonymity and the potential for the state to monitor their online   
   activities.    
      
   Digital rights experts have consistently warned that such regulatory efforts   
   could severely harm the growth of the country's digital economy, which relies   
   heavily on open internet access for freelancers, IT companies, and startups.   
   Previous crackdowns on VPNs have already been blamed for throttling internet   
   speeds and creating an unpredictable online environment for businesses.    
      
   As this new licensing regime rolls out, the key question will be whether the   
   PTA will now more aggressively block access to international VPN providers   
   that refuse to apply for a local license.    
      
   If that happens, millions of Pakistanis who rely on these tools for privacy,   
   security, and access to information will face a stark choice between using a   
   potentially compromised local service or being cut off from the global   
   internet.    
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/vpn/vpn-privacy-security/pakistan-restarts-vpn-licen   
   sing-in-fresh-bid-to-control-online-space   
      
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