In a recent presentation to the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunications, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairman revealed how this long anticipated merger has been subject to numerous delays owing to complexities emerging from PTCL’s management. They warned of anti-competitive practices by the PTCL, raising suspicions of its abuse of market power overriding potential efficiency gains. 

In this session, other pertinent issues of data security and internet connectivity were also discussed. Senator Afnan Ullah revealed that stolen data worth over $65 billion is circulating the dark web, and this includes data stolen from over 300,000 Hajj applicants. Even the PTA chairman confirmed SIM data, including his own, has been available on public forums on the Dark Web. The lack of sufficient data protection legislation was pointed as the root cause for frequent security breaches and privacy violations.