Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) in its continued efforts to curb grey traffic has blocked more than 200,000 Inernet Protocl (IP) addreses, 1382 mobile SIMs and 3160 phones/devices through their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers during last one month.

The grey monitoring system has been operational since early October 2013 and has the capability to automatically block those IPs which are not in the PTA’s whitelist.

In this connection, a high level meeting was chaired by Chairman PTA to review the progress of grey traffic monitoring system.

Furthermore, after the installation of Grey Traffic monitoring equipment, as per the directions of Grey Traffic Monitoring Committee, PTA has conducted an extensive audit of the whitelist IPs. Now whitelisting of IPs is being done after a very stringent check and a strict SOP has been made in this regard. As a result the IP whitelist has been rationalized and reduced from 51000 to 10,360.

In addition to this, PTA has launched a 24/7 complaint center. Complainants can lodge their complaints through email ( complaint@pta.gov.pk ), toll free phone (080055055), fax (051-2878127) and free sms (8866) wherein they can report numbers in case any local number appears when receiving an international call. Through this facility 1944 complaints have been received till date. The numbers reported are not only blocked, but are also analyzed for legal action.

In a recent case, grey traffic was detected by PTA and on further analysis it was established that a LDI (Long Distance and International) operator M/s Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd. was involved in grey traffic. A joint raid was conducted by PTA and FIA and illegal terminating equipment was confiscated and culprits apprehended.As per initial estimates a total of 11 Million minutes per month were being illegally brought into Pakistan by Wise Communication (Pvt) Ltd. In another two successful raids conducted in Karachi, PTA along with FIA confiscated nine (09) gateways.

 

(Khurram A.Mehran)

Director (PR)