PTA Gives Blackberry Another Month to Reach a Deal and Stay in Pakistan

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has given a one month extension to Blackberry for further discussion on how it will allow Pakistani government access to its communication services — exactly like its doing in other countries — to stay and continue operating in Pakistan.

Blackberry, that yesterday announced its exit from Pakistan for too much pressure from Pakistani government for backdoor access, has happily agreed and has delayed its exit.

The company, that was scheduled to be be shut down in Pakistan on November 30th, 2015 for not complying with government demands, had instead said that it was exiting from Pakistan because it could not give backdoor access to its BES network.

Also Read: Corporate Lies: Why the Story Behind BlackBerry Pakistan Exit Sounds Fishy

After the extension from Pakistani government, Blackberry said on its website:

Government of Pakistan has notified BlackBerry that it has extended its shutdown order from November 30 to December 30.

BlackBerry will delay its exit from the Pakistan market until then.

PTA is apparently trying to save Blackberry’s less than 5,000 customers by extending the shut-down orders and asking Blackberry again for the access that it conveniently offers to various other countries.

Blackberry will now discuss these matters with PTA during next thirty days to see if they can reach a workable arrangement.

PTA said that it can allow Blackberry to operate in Pakistan if sufficient access to its communication is granted to Pakistani law enforcement agencies.

Blackberry’s BES services will now continue to work till December 30th, 2015 as normal, however, any future operations will depend on how Blackberry will respond to Pakistan’s demands during next thirty days.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • What if there are 5000 users? You should appreciate theit existence .. that is the reason companies are not interested in Pakistan.You make their lives miserable.

    • Its all about business my friend, what if you lose 50 rs daily from your pocket. One day, you will think the reason to secure. In a business perspective, its matters allot, and btw, BB have loyal customers. It is enough to see when customers think that a simple Q 10 is much better then Iphone..

  • Please BB Do not leave Pakistan and Please For God sake, PTA Dont allow BB to leave Pakistan. What have we (Customers) done to you (PTA)

  • You’re hell bent on saying that Blackberry conveniently offers access to other countries but not to Pakistan, but if you’ve read Blackberry’s communique you should know that Blackberry refused to offer the Pakistani state “unfettered access” to Blackberry’s servers. The overwhelming possibility is that Blackberry offered the exact same arrangement that it has with other countries to Pakistan, but the Pakistani state rejected it and asked for full backdoor access. That is a fascist, nihilistic demand. The Pakistani state has been known to use deep access spyware such as Finfisher to spy on its citizens. So if I were you, I’d give the benefit of doubt to Blackberry and view the Pakistani state’s Nazi-esque demands with deep suspicion.

  • This is bad and all but the reason BB is citing for leaving Pakistan is that Govt was asking for access to the encrypted BES service ( which wasn’t given to India).


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