The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has initiated a large-scale firewall renewal and upgrade project to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity defenses and protect critical telecom infrastructure from growing digital threats.
According to project estimates, the upgrade will cost between Rs. 40 million and Rs. 120 million, depending on the selected models, license terms, and deployment scale.
Once implemented, the new system will give the PTA enhanced visibility, control, and resilience against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks targeting Pakistan’s telecom and digital ecosystems.
The plan includes next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), license renewals, and full integration with PTA’s data centers and regional offices. These systems will feature intrusion prevention, malware protection, SSL inspection, VPN security, and web filtering — all designed to block unauthorized access and improve real-time monitoring.
The upgraded setup will also introduce centralized management consoles and active-passive failover to ensure uninterrupted operations even during outages. PTA aims to link the new firewall system with National CERT’s threat intelligence framework for rapid cyber incident response.
The project will be executed in multiple phases, including network assessment, hardware procurement, installation, configuration, staff training, and post-deployment maintenance with 24/7 vendor support and updates for up to five years.
