PTA along with FIA conducted 53 raids to curb grey traffic

A meeting of the Spectrum Auction Committee was held under the chairmanship of the Federal Minister for Finance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar to review the progress made so far in the spectrum auction as well as the measures taken to curb grey trafficking.

Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif had constituted two separate committees to oversee spectrum auction and to curb the grey traffic.

During the meeting Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) informed the meeting that bids for appointment of consultants have been received and their financial and technical evaluation has been done.

The meeting was informed that the entire process of auction of spectrum would conclude within the stipulated period of 139 days committed by PTA. The consultant would bring on board all stake holders, hold road shows and finalize information memorandum for the auction of spectrum license.

In a follow up meeting pertaining to grey traffic, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority briefed the meeting on the measures taken to curb grey trafficking and its progress so far.

The Minister for Information technology Ms.Anusha Rehman briefed the meeting that there is enhanced visibility over VOIP traversing over international gateways resulting in blocking of 230,000 suspected IPs.

 Chairman PTA Dr. M.Ismail Shah informed that dozens of comprehensive grey trafficking cases were handled by PTA resulting in closing of illegal grey traffic business amounting to millions of rupees. The meeting was also informed that non-ICH bandwidth utilization decreased significantly. It was also informed that rationalization of white list by PTA led to reduction in IP addresses from 51000 to less than 9000 IPs.

It was decided that PTA shall continue to eliminate grey traffic by engaging the public through awareness campaigns and technical interventions.

The meeting was also informed that PTA along with FIA conducted 53 raids to curb grey traffic.

 The meeting also approved a recommendation that all steps be taken to eliminate grey traffic including necessary policy interventions.

The meeting was attended by Mr.Shahid Hamid Minister for Science and Technology, Ms. Anusha Rehman Minister for Information Technology, Dr. M. Ismail shah Chairman PTA and senior officials of Ministry of Information Technology.