Pakistan has granted its first VPN licenses – but does this guarantee long-term legality?

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has initiated licensing VPN services, following months of attacks on providers.

It is unclear whether the best VPNs are included, but the PTA has granted licenses to two companies under the "Class License for the Provision of Data Services."

The PTA said "This initiative enables businesses to utilize VPNs for lawful purposes, ensuring data security, privacy, and regulatory compliance while promoting transparency" and encouraged VPN service providers to apply online for licenses.

The move is a change in behavior from the PTA, who up until recently launched attacks on VPNs in Pakistan. Questions remain over the nature of this VPN usage and how private and secure it really is.

The idea of licensing and VPN permits was proposed in December 2024 and at the time it appeared the VPN services were simply proxy servers. Proxies allow you to change your IP address to one from another country, however, your data isn't encrypted and your proxy can see your browsing activity.

Pakistan and VPNs – a turbulent history

The end of 2024 saw significant attempts to suppress VPNs in Pakistan. The beginning of November saw Pakistan experience a VPN shutdown and then at the end of the month, VPNs were declared "un-Islamic" amidst government moves to restrict VPN usage.

The labelling of VPNs as "un-Islamic" was later declared a "typo" but users had to register their VPNs with the PTA by November 30 2024. Any unregistered VPNs would subsequently be banned after this date.

PTA chairman, retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman stated that individuals "should not access unauthorised social media apps or websites through VPNs" and VPNs used for non-commercial purposes will be blocked.

Soon after this announcement, apps including WhatsApp suffered outages as the government implemented measures to curtail political protests. The Proton VPN Observatory, run by Proton VPN, recorded a 2,860% increase in VPN sign-ups over the baseline as citizens attempted to bypass blocks.

However, the government U-turned on a ban following intervention from the Law Ministry. It said the clause the government cited only allowed blocks on "content" and not "tools," with VPNs falling into the latter category.

The recent turbulence surrounding VPNs in Pakistan does not offer a clear idea of what will happen next. What is important is that the people of Pakistan have access to secure and truly private VPN providers, not monitored by the government or any other third party and that internet restrictions are stopped.