Pakistan’s Internet firewall could cost economy $300 million, association says
Pakistan’s Internet firewall could cost economy $300 million, association says /node/2567538/pakistan
Pakistan’s Internet firewall could cost economy $300 million, association says
A Pakistani resident uses a computer to try to enter social networking website Twitter in Quetta on May 20, 2012, after the country's government blocked the website. (AFP/File)
Pakistan’s Internet firewall could cost economy $300 million, association says
Islamabad is reportedly implementing an Internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platform
Pakistan Software Houses Association says country’s global IT clients fear proprietary data, privacy will be compromised
Updated 15 August 2024
Reuters
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy could lose up to $300 million due to Internet disruptions caused by imposition of a national firewall, the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) said in a press release on Thursday.
Islamabad is implementing an Internet firewall to monitor and regulate content and social media platforms, according to local media reports. The government denies the use of the firewall for censorship.
Ali Ihsan, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, said the imposition of the firewall has already caused prolonged Internet disconnections and erratic VPN performance, threatening a “complete meltdown of business operations.”
“These disruptions are not mere inconveniences; but, a direct, tangible and aggressive assault on the industry’s viability – inflicting an estimated and devastating financial losses estimated to reach $300 million, which can further increase exponentially,” he said in the statement.
Pakistan’s telecommunication authority and Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja did not immediately respond.
Earlier this month, Khawaja told local media that the government did not plan to use firewalls as a form of censorship.
Pakistan has already blocked access to social media platform X since the February elections in which jailed former prime minister Imran Khan won the most seats despite a crackdown and ban on his party.
The government has said the blocking was to stop anti state activities and a failure by X to adhere to local Pakistani laws. Rights activists say blocking X is designed to stifle critical voices and democratic accountability in the country.
In its statement, P@SHA said that the government’s lack of transparency around the firewall had “ignited a firestorm of distrust” among Internet users and Pakistan’s global IT clients who fear their proprietary data and privacy will be compromised.
P@SHA demanded an “immediate and unconditional halt to this digital siege” and called on the government to engage with the industry to develop a cybersecurity framework.
Pakistan recorded $298 million in IT exports in June, up 33 percent from the year before. During the fiscal year that ended in June, IT exports were worth $3.2 billion, up 24 percent from $2.5 billion in the fiscal year 2023.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a visiting World Bank delegation on Monday that Pakistan prioritizes investment and partnership rather than loans, a statement from his office said weeks after the international financial institution announced supplying the country with $20 billion of loans.
Sharif met a delegation of nine executive directors of the World Bank, who are on a visit of the country to discuss its economic projects and investments, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. The Pakistani premier met the delegation with senior officials and members of his cabinet.
The delegation arrives in Pakistan after the World Bank last month announced supplying Pakistan with $20 billion of loans over the next decade. These loans are expected to be invested in nutrition, education and renewable energies in the hope of stimulating private-sector growth in the country.
Welcoming the delegation to Pakistan, Sharif acknowledged that the World Bank’s partnership with Pakistan spans seven decades. Various national projects that contributed to the country’s development were built through Islamabad’s partnership with the World Bank, he said.
“Instead of loans, investment and partnership are priority,” Sharif was quoted as telling the World Bank delegation in a statement released by the PMO.
The Pakistani prime minister pointed out that the country’s exports and remittances are both increasing, adding that low interest rates were causing investment in the manufacturing sector to increase.
Sharif said his government was working on digitizing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan’s main tax collection authority, in its bid to control corruption. He also said that the government’s recent power reforms were ensuring uninterrupted power supply to many parts of the country.
The premier said that the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework program for Pakistan will lead to an investment of $40 billion in the country, describing it as a “welcome development.”
“With $20 billion, a new chapter of development will open in Pakistan through various projects in health, education, youth development and other social sectors,” Sharif said.
The World Bank delegation appreciated Pakistan’s reforms in energy, industry, exports, privatization, revenue and other sectors, the PMO said.
The World Bank’s lending for Pakistan will start in 2026 and focus on six outcomes: improving education quality, tackling child stunting, boosting climate resilience, enhancing energy efficiency, fostering inclusive development and increasing private investment.
Pakistan nearly defaulted in 2023 on the payment of foreign debts and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) rescued it by agreeing to a $3 billion bailout.
Last year, Islamabad secured a new $7 billion loan deal from the IMF. Since then, the country’s economy has started improving with weekly inflation coming down from 27 percent in 2023 to 1.8 percent in January.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to reduce dependence on foreign loans in the coming years.
ISLAMABAD: Over 12,000 police personnel will be deployed in the cities of Lahore and Rawalpindi as Pakistan stages its first major International Cricket Council (ICC) tournament in nearly three decades from Feb. 19, police said on Monday.
A 2009 militant attack on the Sri Lanka team in the eastern city of Lahore led to international teams avoiding tours to Pakistan for almost a decade because of security concerns. The Sri Lankan test team returned in 2019 as international cricket made slow inroads back and foreign players were drafted for a men’s T20 domestic cricket league held annually in Pakistan.
Later this week, Pakistan will host the eight-team ICC Champions Trophy in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi. However, arch-rival India’s matches will take place in the United Arab Emirates after its government refused to give permission for the squad to travel to Pakistan.
“For the Lahore and Rawalpindi matches, over 12,000 police officers and personnel will perform security duties,” a Punjab police spokesperson said in a statement. “More than 8,000 officers and personnel will perform security duties in Lahore and more than 5,000 in Rawalpindi.”
Senior officers, district superintendents of police, inspectors and women police personnel would be on duty for the series.
The statement quoted Punjab Inspector General of Police, Dr. Usman Anwar, as saying police were carrying out intelligence-based operations around the residences of players and team routes to stadiums, while Safe Cities Authority cameras would monitor these areas as well as stadiums and hotels.
Various police units would carry out patrols during the matches, with snipers stationed on tall buildings around the stadiums, Anwar added.
“We will ensure the organization of international matches in a peaceful and secure environment,” he added, calling on fans to follow police instructions on security and safety protocols.
The tournament will take place from Feb. 19 to Mar. 9 across three venues: Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi. The Lahore and Karachi stadiums have recently reopened after extensive renovations to enhance broadcast quality and spectator comfort.
Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in 2017, defeating India by 180 runs in a one-sided final.
Pakistan’s last ICC event was when it co-hosted the 1996 World Cup with Sri Lanka and India.
ISLAMABAD: Among Internet users in Pakistan, 18% use virtual private networks (VPNs) with men and respondents under 30 years of age among “heavier users,” a survey conducted by leading research firm Gallup Pakistan said recently.
Pakistan’s government last year banned what it said were “illegal” VPNs, citing their use by militant groups for financial transactions and violent activities. The decision followed the government’s move to ban social media platform X in February 2024 after allegations of electoral manipulation and media reports of it installing a national firewall to monitor online content.
Pakistani rights activists and members of civil society have criticized the government, accusing it of taking restrictive measures to stifle dissent and crack down on opposition parties and their supporters. The government denies these allegations and says it is ensuring people’s protection in cyberspace.
Pakistanis have increasingly turned to VPNs, which hides users’ browsing activity, identity and location, allowing for greater privacy and autonomy. It also allows Internet users to access websites that are blocked by the government, such as X in Pakistan.
“Among Internet users in Pakistan 18% use VPN, with men (23%) and respondents under 30 (24%) among heavier users,” Gallup Pakistan said in a report published on Feb. 14.
When asked, “Please tell me if you use VPN?” 18% responded with a ‘Yes’ while 80% said ‘No’ and 2% either did not know or did not respond, Gallup Pakistan said. The firm said it carried out the survey on a sample of 1,042 men and women across urban and rural areas of all four provinces of the country from Jan. 7-12, 2025.
It said Internet users aged under 30 years were more likely to use VPN (24%) compared to those aged 30-50 (13%) and those aged over 50 (15%).
Of the 100% male respondents surveyed, 23% said they used VPNs while 75% said they did not, and 2% did not know or did not respond. As far as women respondents were concerned, 10% said they used VPNs while 87% said they did not, and 3% said they did not know or did not respond.
“Male Internet users were far more likely than women to use VPN,” the report said. “Twenty-three percent of men used VPN compared to 10% of women, a 13% difference.”
Pakistan’s interior ministry in November 2024 wrote a letter to the PTA, asking it to block illegal VPNs as they are also used by Internet users in the country to access pornographic websites and blasphemous content online.
PTA had already disclosed that nearly 20 million Pakistanis try to access pornographic websites banned by the authorities in 2011 on a daily basis.
ISLAMABAD: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) has set up the Pak-EU Business Forum to explore “untapped” trade, investment, economic and industrial collaboration potential between the South Asian nation and the regional economic alliance, FPCCI said in a statement this month.
Pakistan has become the largest beneficiary of the EU’s GSP+ preferential trade scheme in recent years, with its businesses increasing their exports to the EU market by 108 percent since the launch of the trade scheme in 2014. The EU is also Pakistan’s second most important trading partner after China, accounting for over 14 percent of Pakistan’s total trade and absorbing 28 percent of Pakistan’s total exports. Pakistan’s major exports to the EU – including textiles and garments, agricultural products and leather goods – are valued at $10 billion annually.
“Cracking the EU market in a substantive manner can transform the entire economy of Pakistan – as geographical contiguity and regulatory uniformity offers a huge market for Pakistani products in a number of industries, sectors and verticals,” FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh said in a statement, calling on the need to diversify Pakistan’s export portfolio.
Zubair Baweja, the chairman of the Pak-EU Business Forum, said the main aim of setting up the platform was to “diversify, enrich, expand and value-add” Pakistan’s export-basket to the EU member states.
“It was decided to make working groups on different sectors and product categories for a focused and result-oriented facilitation to the trade and industry,” the statement quoted Baweja as saying.
Last month, the European Union’s mission in Islamabad reminded Pakistan that the trade benefits it received under the GSP+ scheme depended on progress the country made on addressing a list of issues, including human rights, saying “tangible” efforts remained essential.
The statement came after a visit to Pakistan by Ambassador Olof Skoog, EU Special Representative for Human Rights (EUSR), to engage the country on human and labor rights issues and to discuss Pakistan’s plans to address them, including in view of the ongoing assessment under the GSP+ trade scheme.
The GSP+ scheme grants beneficiary countries’ exports duty-free access to the European market in exchange for voluntarily agreeing to implement 27 international core conventions, including on human and civil rights.
Multiple developments on the human rights front have raised concerns over Pakistan’s GSP+ status in recent weeks. The EU has openly criticized Pakistan for sentencing over 80 civilians in army courts after charging them for anti-government riots in May 2023 in which military installations were attacked, saying it was “inconsistent” with Pakistan’s international obligations.
The country’s GSP+ status was once more in the spotlight last month after parliament passed a controversial cybercrime law that journalists and digital rights activists have widely said aims to crackdown against dissent on social media platforms. The government denies this.
KARACHI: Aamir Ibrahim, the CEO of Jazz, Pakistan’s largest telecom company, has warned that cellphone operators could opt out of participating in a planned 5G spectrum auction if the government set high upfront prices and priced in US dollars over rupees, arguing that such a model would make little business sense for market players.
The South Asian country of 240 million people hopes to use the auction as a way to boost the economy and promote advanced telecoms technology among its over 165 million mobile phone users. According to a recent report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), 5G could contribute over $1.5 billion to Pakistan’s GDP by 2030, and also improve connectivity, service quality, and innovation in agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, education, and health care.
However, the National Economic Research Associates (NERA), a US-based consultancy hired by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last year to oversee the 5G spectrum action, has identified major obstacles that could delay the rollout, which was planned for mid-2025. These include administrative restrictions on Internet services, low utilization of existing spectrum, auctioning the 5G spectrum in foreign instead of local currency, a delay in the Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) decision on the acquisition of Telenor Pakistan by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and litigation over spectrum availability in the 2.6 GHz band.
Speaking to Arab News in an interview last week, Ibrahim said Jazz, Pakistan’s leading digital service provider with around 71 million subscribers, had held discussions with the government on the structure of 5G licensing, which needed to be “investor-friendly and consumer-beneficial.”
“Some of the key recommendations have been that we have to delink the price of the spectrum from dollars to rupees and the reason for that is that we earn our revenues in rupees. So, we can’t really have a huge cost impact on dollars, which we can’t necessarily predict,” Ibrahim said.
Indeed, Pakistani telecom operators face a currency mismatch, as they charge customers in rupees but pay hefty regulatory fees — including license renewals and spectrum costs — in US dollars.
This exposes them to exchange rate volatility, making long-term financial planning difficult, especially as the rupee has sharply depreciated in recent years.
Ibrahim said Jazz had also sought “relief” from the government regarding payment terms, including the upfront component of the auction and the duration of the payment cycle, saying buyers of the 5G spectrum would need to invest up to $1 billion over time to import compatible equipment and upgrade their networks.
“There are less than two percent of all of our customers in Pakistan who have a 5G-compatible phone, and that’s why it’s important that the whole pricing mechanism of 5G has to be commensurate with the business potential,” the Jazz CEO said.
Ultimately, he said, higher prices upfront or initially would make a “weak business case”:
“And the operators may not be interested in participating in the auction, which again will not be beneficial for the government.”
The Jazz CEO said his company has conveyed these concerns as part of its recommendations to the government, and that they had resonated with NERA’s recommendations on what “we as an industry have been asking the government.”
He agreed that a main concern for investors was also the delay in the approval of PTCL’s acquisition of Telenor Pakistan, which has been awaiting clearance from the Competition Commission.
“It has taken quite a long time … it’s not a good signal for a foreign investor if a merger approval process takes more than 14 months,” Ibrahim said, adding that the prolonged delay was creating uncertainty, discouraging investment and making Pakistan’s telecom sector appear less business-friendly.
Additionally, the delay was affecting strategic planning for telecom operators, particularly in terms of competition and resource allocation.
“Because then we don’t necessarily know whether the spectrum is going to be made available for four players or for three players. So, that’s a requisite that I think has to be addressed before we move forward with the 5G auction.”
The 5G rollout has also been delayed due to ongoing legal disputes over spectrum allocation. A portion of the 2.6 GHz frequency band — essential for 5G deployment — remains tied up in litigation, leaving insufficient spectrum for optimal performance.
Last year, the Islamabad High Court ruled against China Mobile Pakistan Limited (Zong) for unauthorized use of the additional spectrum beyond its license period, further complicating the regulatory landscape.
Asked about the litigation, Ibrahim alleged that one operator had “illegally occupied the spectrum for a very long time,” without naming the company.
“We want all operators to comply with the same rules and regulations that exist for others,” he said, adding that whether it was 50 MHz or 68 MHz, the spectrum must be released.
He stressed that Pakistan ideally needed 100 MHz slots per operator, but spectrum constraints and subdued pent-up demand had hindered expansion.
“The 2,600 MHz band is a very desirable spectrum that should be released before the 5G auction,” Ibrahim said. “A couple of things certainly appear to be roadblocks, and I hope these roadblocks are taken out of the way very quickly.”
Commenting on the timeline for the rollout of 5G services in Pakistan, the Jazz CEO admitted it would not happen “overnight.”
“It will take a while before the rollout starts, it’s not going to be the case that one day somebody buys 5G spectrum and the next day they switch it on and the whole country is lit up,” he said.
“It takes a while to plan for the network, import the equipment, upgrade the equipment and start deploying the services. And you go pocket by pocket, city by city. So, it takes a while, but I think the journey can start within a few months of the auction results being concluded.”
