In a statement issued on Saturday, the PTA said: “The step is aimed to further simplify the VPN registration process for facilitation of the IT industry”.

The regulatory body revealed that over 31,000 VPNs have been registered to date and advised users to register their VPNs using mobile numbers through its website.

This announcement follows the PTA’s initiative to crack down on unregistered VPNs due to security concerns raised by the government.

Initially, the PTA set a deadline of November 30 for VPN registration but later decided not to block any VPNs after the deadline expired.

The Ministry of Interior had previously announced plans to shut down all unregistered VPNs by mid-November but subsequently provided a two-week “grace period” for compliance with the registration requirements.

Chairman Maj Gen (Retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman confirmed to the media that the authority would not block any VPNs, as the government opted to extend the registration deadline.

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