By Eman Alam
ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication on Thursday stressed the need for Pakistan to develop and launch its own social media application for messaging and secure communication.
The committee, chaired by Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, sought a briefing on the proposed Pakistani application.
The committee considered the proposed Telecommunication Competition Rules.
Ministry of IT and Telecommunication officials sought additional time to finalise the rules, explaining that consultations with telecom operators and other stakeholders were underway.
Ministry officials further told the committee that consulting telecom operators was essential before finalising the competition rules and assured it that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) would also be consulted.
An Additional Director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) briefed the committee that it was blocking accounts containing blasphemous material and taking action against those responsible. The committee directed that the investigation process be expedited.
The committee received briefings from FIA and NCCIA officials on alleged fraud amounting to Rs172 billion through call centres.
FIA officials told the committee that the alleged fraud was committed after companies were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for short periods.
They further said technical experts were required to investigate call-centre-related fraud and that such expertise was available with the NCCIA. Therefore, the matter was being referred to the agency. NCCIA officials were of the view that Pakistan needed to improve its visa issuance system. The officials said the State Bank of Pakistan and SECP would also need to strengthen their mechanisms.
The committee also received a briefing on allegations that one of the country’s largest telecom companies had charged consumers additional amounts.
To investigate the matter further, the committee decided to constitute a subcommittee to examine the alleged overcharging by the private telecom company.
