On November 13, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) begun licensing Virtual Private Network (VPN) service providers under the reinstated Class Value Added Services (CVAS-Data) regime, marking a shift toward regulated and lawful provision of VPN services in the country.
According to the PTA, the licensing initiative is intended to streamline the provision of secure VPN services while ensuring compliance with national regulations and data security standards. The move follows earlier efforts to register VPNs, including warnings about potential bans on unregistered services, which were introduced after a previous strategy did not achieve the intended level of compliance.
The regulator announced that several companies have been granted class licences to offer VPN services. These include Alpha 3 Cubic Pvt Ltd (Steer Lucid), Zettabyte Pvt Ltd (Crest VPN), Nexilium Tech SMC-Pvt Ltd (Kestrel VPN), UKI Conic Solutions SMC-Pvt Ltd (QuiXure VPN), and Vision Tech 360 Pvt Ltd (Kryptonyme VPN). A class licence allows multiple users to operate under general conditions without the need for individual approval.
The PTA stated that the licensees are authorised to offer VPN services to individuals and organisations for legitimate and lawful purposes. Users can obtain VPN services directly from these licensed providers without seeking separate registration from the PTA for their IP addresses or mobile numbers. The authority said this measure is designed to facilitate regulation, increase user convenience, and support cybersecurity across Pakistan’s digital environment.
VPN usage in Pakistan has previously been linked to accessing restricted websites, including the platform X. The PTA had considered banning VPNs in November last year due to the absence of a legal framework but later withdrew the decision. In February, the regulator issued licences to two companies to monitor traffic that bypasses local restrictions, with those licences limited to providing services to commercial clients such as IT companies, banks, and foreign missions.
