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By Ariz Riaz :
The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT and Telecom was informed that the government plans to launch its ‘Beep’ application for officials in the coming months, modelled on China’s social media platform WeChat.
The NA panel met under the chairmanship of MNA Syed Amin Ul Haque on Tuesday and was informed that the application was ready and would be rolled out by June 2026, The News reported.
“The purpose of launching the BEEP app is to provide a secure messaging platform for public sector employees,” the Chief Executive Officer of National Information Technology Board (NITB), Faisal Iqbal Ratyal, informed the NA panel.
The Beep extends end-to-end encryption to video communications, while making it suitable for sensitive government discussions.
To the query over the operational costs of the Beep app, the CEO of NITB highlighted that the Beep will operate on a usage-based fee model, and efforts are underway to make the platform financially self-sustaining over time.
The federal secretary of IT said that revenue generation was not the primary objective of the application, and the main priority remains secure, efficient and reliable communication across state institutions. In Pakistan, there is rampant usage of WhatsApp owned by Meta, which remains the most widely used platform for voice, video calls and media files sharing. However, its data servers are not stationed inside Pakistan.
The chairman of the committee challenged data presented by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its Quality of Service report, claiming a 99% satisfaction rate for mobile signals nationwide. All the members unanimously rejected the report, saying frequent internet slowdowns and weak mobile signals contradict the regulator’s assessment.
PPP’s Sharmila Faruqui questioned the methodology being used by the PTA to compile such quality surveys and asked for carrying out future Quality of Service surveys by third parties independently. She stated that the external audits were essential to bring credibility and ensure transparency in reporting.
The committee recalled that it had previously directed that the 5G spectrum auction be held in Pakistani rupees and that the spectrum prices should not be set unnecessarily high.
The committee directed that any discount or concession granted to telecom operators during the spectrum auction should be strictly linked to the utilisation of such benefits for network and infrastructure improvement.
The committee also expressed serious concerns over the absence of director general of SCO for the third consecutive time. The committee deliberated upon the Prevention of Obscenity and Indecency in Digital Media Bill, 2025, which was moved by Shahida Rehmani, MNA.
During the discussion, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) presented its observations, stating that legislation of a similar nature already exists; therefore, there is no need for a separate law, as it would result in overlapping legal provisions. The NCCIA further clarified that all such matters relating to digital media are already covered under the PECA Act.
In view of these observations, the member, while acknowledging and understanding the directions of NCCIA, withdrew her Bill.
Furthermore, the committee directed the members to consult with NCCIA and examine whether any shortcomings or additional provisions are required in the existing law, and if so, the same may be incorporated into the PECA Act and the existing cybercrime legal framework, so as to avoid the creation of a new authority and to effectively address the issue of overlapping legislation.
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