Is it Even Legal for PTCL to Force Popup ADs to its EVO/DSL Users?

PTCL has reportedly started displaying popup and forced ads for its various products and promotions for users that browse internet through PTCL EVO and DSL broadband services, we have checked.

These advertisements are actually injected with-in the websites that users browse while using EVO and DSL services.

For further clarity, check below the screen-grab of PTCL advertisement that was forced upon a user while he was browsing ProPakistani website:

PTCL_Ad_002

These ads are displayed at a set frequency (in terms of time) no matter what website a user is browsing to essentially kill the browsing experience of end-user.

PTCL_Ad_001

For those who don’t know, there is a way possible for network operators, such as PTCL, to inject javascript code into websites that are browsed on their networks. And this is exactly how PTCL is able to inject ads on to websites that are browsed on their network.

Check here responses from countless ProPakistani readers who confirmed that they are shown these ads while browsing internet through EVO and DSL broadband services.

So is it even legal or at least ethical for ISPs to inject ads on websites that are not maintained by them? Take example of ProPakistani for instance — PTCL is by no means managing the content of ProPakistani, neither they share any cost for operating ProPakistani — yet they are capitalizing our audience by showing them ads and that too without informing the end-user or the website owner.

This is a bad precedent and if accepted and if it becomes a norm then it won’t take long for other ISPs and Telcos to bombard their users with such forced ads.

Secondly, PTCL is charging the end-user for internet connectivity and hence service should come without any hiccups or any advertisements.

Thirdly, ads shown by PTCL come without any notice or disclaimer and they portray as if websites (such as ProPakistani) are running an ad campaign from PTCL with such dimensionless creatives that cover almost whole of the page.

Since PTCL doesn’t own these websites where it runs such ads, neither they ask nor discuss sizes of the banners, these huge sized banners annoy users and trigger them to install ad-blockers that ultimately kill the publishers’ business.

And lastly, this is a bad precedent. If accepted now and if it becomes a norm then it won’t take long for other operators to bombard their users with such forced ads. Even worse, if not stopped by PTA, you may also see Ufone ADs on PTCL network in future or maybe PTCL ads while browsing on Ufone 3G and of course more.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • even worse these days adds are created with animation and heavy graphics which resulted in huge consumption from client’s broadband quotas.

    • which is most likely getting bandwidth from PTCL. The only other operator is TWA which serves corporate sector only.

      • bro speed is just not thek it really very good some time you get 35mb and least you get in peak time 10 mb…. 200gb in 3800 Rs is really cheap … ptcl only giving lot of bandwidth but is use less bcz there service is very bad

  • you forgot to mention they are doing this for long time on ufone. furthermore they are injecting fake youtube https certificates so that youtube remains blocked even when on https.

  • I have noticed these ads pop up when I connect my PC to the EVO Wingle after a reboot of EVO. I even got full-sized ads on my laptop and Windows Phone and couldn’t access the internet while these ads were being showed to me. I had to reset the Wingle to get internet connectivity again. PTCL now this is making me mad and its completely unethical and unprofessional for nation-level ISP!

  • I’m feeling miserable here.. receiving these ads on my EVO internet within two minutes duration. It’s so annoying. What the hell is wrong with PTCL?

  • Well i am very annoyed by these ad banners by ptcl while web browsing or reading something on tablet. I use ptcl dsl and ufone 3g same ads occur while browsing. Finaly i found a way to block these ads on android.

  • Really disappointed in this action of PTCL. Does anyone know where we can file a complaint for this? or at any forum we can raise our voice that can make a difference?

  • Do you actually believe raising your voice will make any difference?

    Anyway, if you want to block those annoying ads what you have to do is, install the adblock plus extension for your browser. You will get a new icon near your browser’s address bar. Click that and go into Filter Preferences. Click on Custom Filters tab. Click Add filter group. Change the name if you want. Click on Add filter in the top right corner. Type in “||182.190.0.41” and press enter. Add another filter and type in “||182.190.0.51/portal/*”. Click close.

    Sure this is going to kill the publishers’ business but user experience is more important IMHO.

  • Yes, ptcl also redirects you to other websites, often crashing the device. ADblock however can stop these pop up ads.


  • Get Alerts

    Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


    ProPakistani Community

    Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



    >