Debate upon the role of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority

(PTA) for regulation of Internet Traffic

The digital age which began at the start of the new millennium gave rise to much technological
advancement in Telecommunication, Broadcasting and Media Regulation in Pakistan. Naturally
in order to respond to such an influx of new developments with the maintenance of said
regulations; Pakistan’s legislature was quick to implement specific laws and authorities that
would do just that as their prime directives. Certain aspects within the realm of communication
like Telecom, Media (print and electronic) and Broadcasting sectors of Pakistan are regulated
under different Acts and Ordinances and under separate regulatory authorities. The following are
the main regulators of the communication sector of Pakistan.

1. PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulating Authority

2. PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority)

3. FAB (Frequency Allocation Board)

4. MoIT (Ministry of Information and Technology, IT & Telecom division)

5. PCP (Press Council of Pakistan)

While all the above-mentioned authorities are responsible for the regulation of broadcasting,
media and telecommunication matters in the country, we will take a deeper look into the role of
the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority which is the authority responsible for regulating all
telecommunication and its related matters in Pakistan.

BACKGROUND
It was established under the Act known as; “Pakistan Telecommunication Re-Organization Act,
1996 (LXXVII of 1996). This act replaced the then existing act, The Pakistan
Telecommunication Corporation Act, 1991 and Pakistan Telecommunication Re-organization
Act, 1996 (XXX of 1996). The ministry of Communications was also dissolved through this act.

The structure of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority consists of 3 members, one of which
is the “professional telecom engineer” while the other two are financial experts which are
appointed by the Federal Government, for a tenure of 4 years. One of the members is appointed
as Chairman of the Authority and the main functions of the Pakistan Telecom Authority include

pg. 1
regulation and maintenance of telecommunication systems of Pakistan as well as to ensure the
provision of Telecom services to the general public. Other functions include promotion and
protection of the telecommunication users’ interest, promotion of rapid modernization of telecom
services, issue of licenses to telecom service providers and to take and investigate complaints
against licensees who violate the rules, terms and conditions set by PTA.

Powers of PTA are very extensive. The powers of PTA include issuance and renewal of licenses
to telecommunication service provides, monitor the activities of the service providers,
modification and change in the form of licenses. The authority also charges fee for granting and
modification of licenses. The Authority prescribes the standards for telecommunication services
and certify the equipment which is being used by the service providers. PTA also receives fees
and other charges from service providing companies in respect to those services. It also allocates
the revenue collection on international calls.

Pakistan Telecommunication has the power to enter premises of any telecommunication service
provider in Pakistan, for the purpose of inspection. The authority also sets the guidelines, terms
and conditions for the users and licensees. With the consultation of Federal Government, the
authority sets the National standard of telecommunications. The Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority is given exclusive power to issue licenses for the telecommunication services and no
company or person can provide telecommunication services in Pakistan without the authorization
of PTA. The authority grants license after consideration of some factors such as technical
resources or financial resources of the person or company and the public interest and benefits to
users of telecom services.

The Authority also has the power to enforce its orders on service providers and on non-
compliance of the terms and conditions or order of PTA, the authority can impose penalties and
can even seize licenses on matters such as if a licensee fails to comply or respond to the notice
issued by PTA or failure on payment of yearly license renewal fee. PTA also has the
responsibility to regulate the telecommunication and internet related issues and its content. The
authority can block content in the country which is against the country policy such as hatred,
racism and vulgarity and offensive material. PTA has the power to make rules, regulations, and
policies for telecommunication. PTA has already issued many policies including De-regulation
policy, Broadband policy, and Mobile Cellular Policy.

CHALLENGES AND ISSUES FACED IN REGULATION

pg. 2
 The above mentioned laws and authorities were made and established to regulate and
manage the media and communication matters of Pakistan. Each of the authorities was
established on the basis of the given situation and circumstances of that time. There is no
doubt that media and communication sector of Pakistan is flourishing and is playing a great
role in the economy of the country under the current laws but there are yet some problems
and issues in regulation of the modern-day technology with the existing laws which can be
overcome with the converged laws. Some of the main problems are defined below:

1. Regulatory Issues:

Modern Technology itself is not a problem, in fact it is a blessing, but the problems arise
when the laws of a country are not corresponding with the change in technology. There is no
denial in the fact that technology has changed over the few years very fast, especially in
information and communication sector. The modes of consuming media have changed. The
devices which were used to consume the media have also changed and so are the services
proving systems. The change in technology has diminished the boundaries between the different
ICT sectors such as telecom and broadcasting. It has become very difficult to distinguish
between the services of broadcasting and telecommunication. For example, the wired broadband
service providers such as PTCL and NayaTel now offer IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) but
broadband is a telecom service and TV is a broadcasting service, consequently issues arise in
regulation because it becomes hard to determine which regulator will regulate the services. In a
case between Telecom Authority and Federation1, there was a conflict that the fees of Spectrum
Allocation and renewal and annual fees are considered Income of Federal government, but
Income Tax was demanded by the government from PTA on those fees. This shows that there is
so much uncertainty between these existing authorities and have no synchronization with other
authorities of state.

2. Content Issues:

1
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority vs Federation of Pakistan [2020] PTD 1683 Islamabad

pg. 3
 The media of a country directly influences the minds of people and causes a huge impact
on culture and nationalism. Pakistan is an Islamic country and the people of Pakistan being
Muslims, they should not consume such content which is prohibited in Islam. The State makes
policies and laws according to the provisions and guidance of Islam and bans different acts such
as gambling and alcohol as it is prohibited in Islam. Similarly, our state should also regularize
media content. The broadcasting media, communication and internet content was consumed
separately by the consumers a few years ago, but now the technology has converged the content
as well. The internet has become the mode of most of the media consummation in our country
and around the world as well. The content of broadcasting is regulated by PEMRA in our
country which regulates all the media content which broadcasts on Pakistani television channels.
It includes all the shows, news and advertisements even and PEMRA restricts and bans any
content which is against the policy of State or PEMRA rules, but now the media content is also
consumed through the internet on different applications and websites. This includes news,
journalism, shows, advertisement etc. Even if PEMRA bans something on broadcasting, same
content is available on the internet which defeats the purpose of regulation. For Example,
PEMRA banned an advertisement of a biscuit add on television because of vulgarity but that
advertisement is available on YouTube and other websites, so the purpose was not served.
Similarly, there are some restrictions on TV journalists and news channels to discuss or talk
about some specific topics, but other journalists have their channels on YouTube and Facebook
where they openly talk and discuss those restricted topics. Even on the TV, sometimes the
content of tv channels especially TV serials make us question if we are watching a Pakistani
channel. Hence the PEMRA regulations seem insignificant in that sector. The content of Internet
which is regulated by PTA is also not regulated properly. Internet is accessible to everyone in
our country and minor children even. They prefer watching their cartoons and shows on internet
rather to watch on tv. There also play games on phones. Consequently, they come across content
which is not suitable for them in the form of advertisements. Sometimes while using the internet
or using a mobile application, the advertisements pop up. These advertisements are most times
local and they are perhaps vulgar and inappropriate for children and uncomfortable for the
adults. Subsequently, the internet consummation is clearly disturbing the culture of the country.
There are many web series which are made in Pakistan, but the content shown in them clearly
does not seem to be Pakistani culture as there is much vulgarity and inappropriate language.

pg. 4
Such internet content and especially advertisements need proper regulation and punishments
should be prescribed for the uploading of such advertisements and content on internet.

3. Issue of Governmental Influence:

While discussing the authorities responsible for media and communication regulation
above, one thing which can be noticed is that all most of the members especially chairmen of
those authorities are appointed by the president or government which opens up the gate of
governmental influence in those authorities. There have been numerous times, when these
authorities seem to be in the direct control on government to promote specific government
agenda or to ban content which the government does not like. It also disregards the right of
freedom of media of the country and many governments were accused many times of
suppressing free speech of media. In 2018, Chief Justice of Pakistan, in the case of Media
Commission, said that PEMRA should be free from the control of government2. In another case3
In front of High Court in Islamabad, it was stated that the Prime Minister of Pakistan has kept 5
regulatory authorities including FAB, PEMRA and PTA under the control of cabinet division of
Pakistan which causes severe influence on the authorities.

4. Involvement of Judiciary

As discussed before, PTA has no policy defined by law on regulation of content on

internet. Hence, whenever PTA tries to restrict or ban some internet app or content, people seek
relief against such actions of PTA, and as the PTA has no policy backed by the law, their
decisions and orders and overturned by the Courts. Even in the last year, we have seen PTA
banning apps like Tiktok, PUBG andBigoLive like apps, but all these bans by PTA were
overturned by the courts hence those apps are still available.

5. Multiple Regulators:

Pakistan’s communication sector is controlled and regulated through multiple regulators

as mentioned above. Telecom is regulated by PTA, spectrum allocation is regulated by FAB,
2
Staff report,“SC wants to see PEMRA free from govt control” published in The News on April 16,2018
3
Muhammad Nawaz vs Principal Secretary to Prime Minister of Pakistan and 11 others [2017]
PLD 2017 Islamabad 207

pg. 5
broadcasting is regulated by PEMRA while Ministry of Information and Technology also
supervises the IT and Telecom sector and FAB and PEMRA are supervised by separate
ministries as well. With the convergence of technology, the margins between these separate
communication services have dissolved so the separate authorities are uncertain that which area
of communication comes under their regulation and which does not. Currently, PTA is in the
uncertain condition to decide while content and services comes under its regulations and similar
is the case with PEMRA.

6. Licensing Issues

One of the issues is licensing as well. The procedure for licensing is of complex nature.
Any telecom or broadcasting company who has to acquire license has to go through a difficult
procedure. Any person or entity ho has to acquire a license for service providing is to get the
license of FAB first and then he is eligible to acquire PTA or PEMRA license. Within the PTA
and PEMRA, there are many complexities. For example, to get a broadcasting license, the person
must get specific license for news, sports, shows, entertainment. There is also a difference
between local area channels and country wide channels. The problem with separate licenses in
broadcasting is that for each kind of license, there are different set of regulations, policies, and
rules which creates complexities. In the telecommunication sector, there are different licenses for
each kind of service as well. For example, there are different licenses for broadband, 2g, 3g and
4g and international telephony services. It is very difficult and costs a lot to companies who wish
to provide multiple telecommunication services.

CONCLUSION
Keeping issue no. 5 in mind; it has been observed that internationally, the world is now moving
towards convergence. Convergence here relates to the convergence of technologies, convergence
of services and convergence of regulations. While there are clearly many issues in the current

pg. 6
regulatory framework of the communication sector, some major problems include multiple
regulatory bodies, inadequacy in regulation of media and internet content and governmental
influence. Most of these problems have arisen because of the revolution in technology and the
current regulators and their policies were not established, keeping in view the change in
technology. Pakistan is in a need of convergence for its communication sector to overcome these
inadequacies. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority itself acknowledges in its Vision 2020
report4 that Pakistan’s current legal framework for communication sector is incapable to regulate
the converged ICT and that Pakistan needs convergence of regulatory authorities to prevail over
the current issues in this sector. Hence Pakistan needs to take the initiative again in creating new
policies and new regulatory frameworks through legislation.

4
Pakistan Tele-communication Authority, PTA Report Vision 2020 (2020) Chapter 5: Convergence.

pg. 7