An increase in VPN usage is the cause of slow internet speeds in Pakistan, with every megabyte of data routed through these services costing the country’s economy approximately $1.
This shocking revelation came from a recent report published by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) – local publications including the Pakistani English-language newspaper The Express Tribune could reveal.
While this isn’t the first time authorities have blamed unauthorized VPN use for internet slowdowns, experts have long argued that government-imposed censorship is instead to blame for breaking the internet in Pakistan.
The ongoing Pakistan debate
According to the PTA report – as reported by The Express Tribune – the ever-growing reliance on top VPN apps has “put additional pressure on Pakistan’s internet infrastructure.”
This is because, the authorities explain, VPN (Virtual Private Network) services bypass local content delivery networks (CDNs), causing inefficiencies. In addition, heavy VPN use is also behind significant economic losses “due to increased dependence on foreign currency.”
According to the PTA data, VPN bandwidth consumption peaked at 634 Gbps in August, 597 Gbps in September, 815 Gbps in October and 378 Gbps in November.
These numbers certainly do not come as a surprise. Pakistanis have been turning to VPNs en masse since the beginning of the year as a means of circumventing strict online restrictions.
X (formerly Twitter) has been inaccessible without a VPN since February. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram were also restricted in July 2024 and May 2023, respectively, according to Surfshark’s Internet Tracker. Bluesky and WhatsApp were the latest social media platforms to be blocked in the country this year.
It was in this context that the PTA first shared plans to regulate the use of VPNs as a way to curb abuse back in August. Authorities would later consider unregistered VPNs a “security risk” to Pakistan, as they can be used to access “sensitive data”.
The PTA then set a deadline of 30 November 2024 to start implementing the new policy, and urged companies and freelancers to register their services to avoid disruption. However, when the registration deadline expired, it was revealed that Pakistan has no legal reason to ban VPNs, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Law.
On December 19, 2024, the PTA shared some new directives that require VPN companies to obtain a data service class license to operate in the country. VPN providers will also be forced to collect and share users’ information usage with authorities upon request – de facto in violation of their strict no-log VPN policies.
While it is too early to know if such an attempt to regulate VPN usage will succeed this time, it certainly starts a new phase for the PTA’s quest to regulate the use of these services in Pakistan.
