PTA-blocked devices suddenly started working when Pakistani consumers mysteriously restored cellular connectivity. The users posted instructions on how to activate SIM cards on the restricted phones on social media.
It has been years as Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) continues to block imported phones with unpaid taxes, preventing users from using any cellular networks in Pakistan. However, they can still connect over WiFi. Over the previous few weeks, some individuals with non-approved phones had their phones arbitrarily unlocked, allowing them to reconnect to cellular networks once more.
This abrupt move sparked reports that the new administration had done away with the significant tariff on pricey cell phones and had instructed PTA to unlock all non-approved devices.
But as PTA itself has acknowledged, this rumour is completely untrue.
In order to encourage people to pay taxes and have their phones legally unblocked, the telecommunications regulator has stated that it has unblocked an undefined number of non-approved phones.
According to PTA spokeswoman Khurram Ali Mehran, this was merely a sales tactic to persuade people to register their phones and pay taxes, no matter how high they are. According to him, PTA decided to unblock the phones at random and will block them again in 60 days.Non-PTA p