PTA terms ex-IT secretary directive illegal

Former secretary allowed LDI companies to pay fee in installments

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has informed a parliamentary panel that a former IT secretary had issued an illegal policy directive that allowed some long distance and international (LDI) service providers to pay fee in installments.

Former IT secretary Captain (Retired) Muhammad Mehmood had been removed after a controversy erupted over the permission, which was beyond his authority and was an illegal act.

The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Monday held a meeting, headed by Senator Palwasha Khan, to discuss the issues being faced by the telecom sector. The grant of tax exemption of Rs54 billion to LDI companies also came up for discussion. However, officers of the IT ministry distanced themselves from the decision made by the former secretary.

Committee chairperson questioned the legal standing of the ex-secretary's policy directive.

Member legal of the IT ministry stated that he had not been consulted about the policy directive and he was on vacation at that time. Member telecom, however, indicated that there was pressure to move the file quickly.

Briefing the Senate panel on the issue, the PTA chairman remarked that the former IT secretary had issued a policy directive beyond his authority and the matter was also taken up in the cabinet. He revealed that five LDI companies were willing to pay the required fee, although some of the firms filed court cases.

He pointed out that licences of the LDI companies had been expiring in July and August and at present legal proceedings were underway. "Currently, there are around 15 cases in court," he said. Senator Anusha Rehman asked whether 15 LDI companies had the optic fibre cable and noted that four companies were highly active in influencing the policymakers.

IT ministry officials acknowledged that the licences of LDI companies were expiring in 2024, adding that authorities were assessing whether the provision of additional licences was necessary. Anusha Rehman, while stressing that non-renewal of licences could result in financial losses, questioned why payments via installments, which were allowed in 2020, "are not being offered now".

The PTA chairman replied that he had no knowledge of the relief provided to the LDI operators in 2020 but confirmed that a company had recently requested for payments in installments.

Anusha Rehman criticised the "incorrect letter" issued by the secretary in 2020 and underlined the need for a clear policy direction from the federal government. Expressing concern about the longstanding stay orders from courts, she questioned the effectiveness of the legal team.

Senator Humayun Mohmand inquired about the closure of X, formerly Twitter, across Pakistan, asking why the government was using the platform through the Virtual Private Network (VPN) if it considered it problematic. The PTA chairman pointed out that X was widely used around the world, often through VPN registration, but warned that free VPNs could prove dangerous. Anusha Rehman stressed the need for removing illegal and harmful content from the internet to protect the youth but added that companies often claimed that such content did not violate the law. She expressed expectation that the PTA chief would resolve those issues.

According to the telecom authority chairman, the PTA receives around 150 complaints daily against social media companies, with 98% related to TikTok, 48% to Meta and 52% to YouTube.

The content is blocked when it violates Pakistani laws and the X case is currently under review in Islamabad, Sindh and Lahore High Courts, he said.

Senator Humayun Mohmand asked about the legality of using VPNs to access X, responding to which interior ministry officials acknowledged that it was illegal. The PTA chairman underlined that efforts were being made to register VPNs and over 20,000 VPNs had already been registered.

It was revealed that the minister of state for IT had been removed from the boards of two subsidiaries of the Ministry of IT – the Universal Service Fund (USF) and Ignite. Anusha Rehman questioned why the IT and telecom minister no longer chaired the boards of those organisations.

Officials of the IT ministry explained that under the SOE Act, board members must now come from the private sector, and as a result the board chairman was also from the private sector.

In the meeting, Establishment Division officials gave a briefing on the appointment of IT and telecom secretary. They stated that in the past officers had been appointed from outside the division, adding that both IT and law ministries had appointed officers from outside. They said that 84 applications had been received, of which 77 were scrutinised.