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Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has started the process of blocking unregistered and illegal smartphones in the country. The authorities had launched a Device Registration System (DIRBS) last year, through which every Pakistani can register his smartphones to prevent their devices from getting blocked.
According to information shared by the PTA, there are around 3 million smartphones which are deemed illegal in the country. These 3 million smartphones include smuggled or non-custom paid phones in Pakistan, and PTA fears that these unregistered r illegal devices can be used to perform illegal or terrorist activities in the country.
But other than those illegal devices there are many people in Pakistan who bring smartphones from foreign countries as a gift for their loved ones, but they are not registered under PTA. The authorities previously allowed Pakistanis coming from other countries to bring one additional handset other than their own without tax in the country, and that they have to pay tax for any extra handset the people bring in Pakistan.
So for that purpose, the PTA launched DIRBS to help people get their mobile phones registered. But there are other mobile devices registration facilities available in various cities across Pakistan as well. PTA has also issued a list of franchises of designated mobile operators where the mobile registration facility is available.
The list given by the PTA contains the names of telecom operators including their franchises, complete addresses, franchise IDs, cities, districts, tehsils, and regions. Here are the lists of franchises from Telenor, Ufone, Zong, and Jazz.
