By the end of 2012, every call, e-mail and/or SMS you send outside Pakistan will go through a security check, being monitored by the government.
The federal government has placed a 90-day deadline on all operators including PTCL to devise and implement a monitoring system that will monitor every call, e-mail and SMS going outside the country anywhere in the world.
It is speculated that the reason behind this move is to monitor and cease any blasphemous or obscene content on the internet.
According to a local agency The News, Senior Executive VP of PTCL, Sikandar Naqi, said that, The regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has assigned 14 LDIs, including PTCL, to install this monitoring equipment.
He said, the impression, that the placement of (ICH) International Clearing House in the system has increased the cost of calling for people in US, Canada and Europe to very high levels, by claiming that the difference in rates after the implementation of IHC has gone from 6.25 cents to 8.80 cents since October 1, 2012.
It is believed that the addition of a monitoring cell will cost the operators millions of dollars to create and implement an infrastructure for monitoring of all voice and e-mail communication with the outside world.
PTA had previously installed a monitoring system to check 15 gigabytes (GB) on incoming traffic from international routes at a cost of $10 million in 2008. Now, this international traffic has increased to 275 GB so the cost of monitoring is expected to be much higher.
http://www.aaj.tv/2012/10/every-international-call-e-mail-and-sms-to-be-monitored-from-2013/
