On Tuesday, the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) refuted rumors and made it clear that the nation was not blocking virtual private networks, or VPNs.
VPNs are frequently used globally to access content that users may find inaccessible or blocked in their country of residence. Users also use them to protect their privacy.
In 2024, the number of local internet users who used VPNs increased significantly. The majority of these users used VPNs to access X, which was previously Twitter and was restricted in the nation since February 19.
Two days after X was blocked, on February 19, there was a 131% increase in demand for proxy networks, according to a report by Top10VPN, an independent VPN review website.
Rejecting media allegations that the PTA intended to outlaw VPNs nationwide, the organization released a statement emphasizing that the rumors were untrue. On the other hand, it promotes users to register their IP addresses in order to use VPNs.
Recent news circulating in media about PTA to block VPNs, it is clarified that VPNs are not being blocked in Pakistan, said by telecommunications regulator.
The head of the authority had informed a parliamentary committee in August that the body was developing a plan to control the use of VPNs in Pakistan by whitelisting certain proxy networks and blocking others. It went on to say that VPN registration was a “one window operation” accessible at the PTA and PSEB websites, adding that the process would take two to three days and was free of charge.
During a press conference last month, the nation's information technology minister, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, stated that the use of VPNs was the cause of the nationwide slowdown in internet services. "I want to reassure the public that the internet has neither been shut down nor slowed down by the state," she had said.
Denying the government’s involvement, she claimed internet speeds were reduced because a large number of people had switched to VPNs to access certain apps.
“The issue was limited to a few services on certain apps not downloading, which led a large segment of the population to start using VPNs,” the minister had said without either naming the apps or the services that were disrupted.
According to a technical analysis carried out by the digital rights organization Bytes For All (B4A), Pakistani internet users who used VPNs to access the internet last month experienced virtually no disruptions and had faster download speeds.
According to the report, VPNs can get around ISP-imposed throttling or DPI measures because of the improvement in download speeds and decreased retransmission rates. Deep Packet Inspection is one of the factors that is thought to be causing internet slowdown.
The GSB Hub published this content on 16 Oct,2024.