ISLAMABAD – The experimental implementation of the firewall has slowed down social media speeds in the country, the latest reports say.
The slow Internet raised concerns about the future of internet-based businesses in the country.
According to the reports, the officials say that once the trial ended, the internet traffic and speed would return to normal.
The government had allocated over 30 billion rupees from the development budget for acquiring and installing this filtering system.
The said funds were given to the Ministry of Information Technology.
However, according to the reports, the Ministry of Information Technology did not have much role.
They said that the system is now installed and being launched, and it will take a few weeks to hand over control to the relevant authorities.
Actions are already being taken under the Electronic Crimes Act 2016, and courts are being established to try individuals caught under this law.
Now that the firewall is in its trial phase, a PTA advertisement two weeks ago attempted to give the impression that this work is just about to start and that paperwork is now beginning.
On July 11, an advertisement invited tenders for the supply, installation, and configuration of “next-generation firewalls, with a five-year hardware warranty. The last date for submitting the tender is July 26.
The reports, however, quoted PTA spokesperson by saying that this is a separate firewall.
“The purpose of the tender is to obtain firewalls for the exclusive use of PTA’s internal IT infrastructure.
The aim is to enhance the security of PTA’s internal system, he was quoted.
Specifically, the PTA issued a tender for the procurement of four next-generation firewalls and two web application firewalls.
The PTA spokesperson stated that this step is solely to ensure robust, layered security for PTA’s internal system and applications.
