No agreement signed for monitoring of Internet Traffic with any vendor: Senate told.

ISLAMABAD -- Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Khan Swati on Friday apprised the Senate that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has neither signed any contract for monitoring of Internet Traffic with any vendor nor was spending public money on the project.

Replying to a question during Question Hour, the minister said that in compliance to statutory and Policy obligations, PTA directed telecom industry to deploy a suitable technical solution capable of monitoring, analyzing and curbing grey traffic.

The said monitoring system would be termed as 'Web Monitoring System (WMS)'. The contract was signed between relevant telecom operators and the vendor without involvement of public money, he said.

All LDIs (Long Distance and International), CMOs (Cellular Mobile Operators) and Submarine Cable Landing Station licensees were sharing the cost of the system under their regulatory obligations, he said.

The minister said for addressing security concerns, PTA has obtained undertaking from the vendor (Inbox Business Technologies) and manufacturer company Sandvine Inc., USA for any possible involvement of hostile element.

The vendor was also obligated to get the system certified as per ISO 27001 international...