Telecom Companies Banned from Third-Party Data Sharing Without Consent, National Assembly Told

The Minister in charge of the Cabinet Division has informed the National Assembly that mobile operators cannot share customer data with any third party, including their own affiliates, unless specific conditions are met, and any disclosure outside those limits would constitute a license violation.

Citing clauses 7.7.1 and 7.7.2 of LDI and Local Loop licences, the minister said licensees must take “reasonable measures” to prevent customer information from reaching third parties. Limited exceptions include debt recovery, inter-operator service provisioning (in confidence), statutory audits, and crime prevention or detection. Beyond these, disclosure requires informed, explicit consent after the customer is told what data will be shared, with whom, and for what purpose. Even then, only the minimum necessary information may be shared.

The statement also referenced the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2009, which obligate operators to maintain confidentiality, and reiterated operators’ duty under clause 7.8.1 to track and locate sources of harassing, fraudulent, or unlawful communications and suspend offending numbers.

Detailing steps against scam calls and SMS, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said it has:

• Sent 1.065 billion public-awareness messages on fraudulent communications;
• Enabled ring-back tones carrying warnings from the State Bank of Pakistan and SECP on subscribers’ phones;
• Blocked masked UAN numbers used in fraud at international gateways; and
• Added a dedicated fraud category in its online complaint system to speed up consumer redress.

Authorities underscored that the current problem set relates to leakage of personal data (including financial credentials) used for fraud, and not to any sanctioned “overseas data sharing” by operators. The government maintained that any sharing outside the defined exceptions, or without documented customer consent, breaches licensing terms and will invite regulatory action.

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