A day after the removal of restriction on internet by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), access to social media networking sites is still an issue for many Pakistanis who have been resorting to Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for using Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and other applications.
On Saturday, some users in Pakistan reported difficulties in accessing social media platforms such as Twitter, and had to resort to using VPNs. Downdetector showed that Twitter outages were concentrated in the cities of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar.
On Tuesday, the Pakistani government took the decision to block mobile broadband and social media websites after the arrest of Imran Khan, the Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led to unrest in the country.
The internet outage further compounded the difficulties faced by the country, with the global internet monitor NetBlocks estimating a daily loss of up to $53 million due to the interruption of mobile data coverage that powers economic transactions, including credit and debit card point-of-sale terminals.
Founder of Katalyst Labs, Jehan Ara questioned restricting access to social media under a democracy.
“This is not the first time this has happened. I thought access to information and freedom of expression were a basic human right guaranteed to us under the Constitution. And we claim to be a democracy?” she said in a tweet.
Political commentator Abdul Moiz Jafrii asked why it was blocked again.
Internet advocacy firm Bolo Bhi Director Usama Khilji said Twitter and YouTube were still blocked in Pakistan as mobile internet access is restored after 4 days.
“Most people accessing Twitter through a VPN, presumably the Prime Minister of the country as well. Meanwhile, Pakistani hashtags are trending in the Netherlands as VPN use skyrockets,” he adds.
The recent suspension of mobile broadband services in Pakistan has been heavily criticized. Telecom companies in the country have reported a loss of Rs2.46 billion in revenue, which translates to a decrease of Rs861 million in taxation.
An official from one of the telecom companies noted that approximately 60% of their revenue came from mobile broadband services. This translated to daily revenues of around Rs820 million when averaged over 365 days. Furthermore, around 35% of this revenue went to the government.
These estimates are based on the fact that the telecom industry in Pakistan earned roughly Rs500 billion from cellular services last year.
