PTA Proposes Mandatory KYC for Foreign SIMs, 90-Day Roaming Cap
If you have ever landed in Pakistan and switched on a foreign SIM or a travel eSIM without showing a single document, that era is about to end. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has proposed mandatory identity verification for every inbound international roaming connection — plus a hard 90-day ceiling on how long a foreign…
If you have ever landed in Pakistan and switched on a foreign SIM or a travel eSIM without showing a single document, that era is about to end. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has proposed mandatory identity verification for every inbound international roaming connection — plus a hard 90-day ceiling on how long a foreign SIM can keep running on Pakistani networks.
What the Draft Rules Propose
PTA has circulated the draft International Roaming (Inbound) Regulations, 2026, and it is a sweeping document. At its core is one simple idea: a foreign number operating in Pakistan should not be untraceable. Under the proposal, telecom operators would be required to build a KYC mechanism that captures and verifies the identity of every inbound roamer.
The information they would have to collect is specific: passport or travel-document details, nationality, the roaming SIM/eSIM identifiers, home-operator details, and, where available, the traveller’s arrival date and expected duration of stay.
Key Provisions at a Glance
| Provision | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Mandatory KYC for inbound roamers | Foreign SIMs and travel eSIMs on Pakistani networks must undergo identity verification — currently they do not |
| 90-day / 180-day threshold | A roaming connection active for 90 days or more within any 180-day period is classified as “permanent roaming” |
| Suspension risk for permanent roamers | Permanent roaming connections may be suspended or blocked if operators cannot establish legitimate temporary use |
| Travel SIM/eSIM aggregator registration | Compulsory PTA registration for companies selling travel SIM/eSIM connectivity in Pakistan |
| Centralised blocked-roamers database | Suspended users cannot simply hop to another Pakistani operator |
| Record retention: 12 months | Operators must maintain roaming records and submit periodic reports to PTA |
| Home-operator data requests | Foreign operators must respond to subscriber-information requests within 72 hours — 24 hours in imminent security/fraud cases |
| M2M / IoT restrictions | Machine-to-machine SIMs barred from ordinary consumer voice, SMS and general data use (genuine industrial use allowed case-by-case) |
Why PTA Is Moving Now
The regulator’s reasoning is blunt. Right now, inbound roaming connections latch onto Pakistani cellular networks without any local KYC verification at all — and PTA says that gap has been exploited for spoofed calls, SMS-based phishing, extortion, e-commerce fraud and other criminal activity.
It has also flagged the misuse of foreign-number-linked social media accounts for fake news and hate speech — a problem that is almost impossible to investigate when the number behind the account is untraceable. Then there is the money angle: foreign SIMs are increasingly being used as substitutes for locally issued connections, including inside machine-to-machine and Internet of Things devices. PTA says that erodes regulatory oversight and costs both the national exchequer and Pakistani operators revenue.
The authority says the framework is meant to strengthen security and consumer protection, tackle permanent roaming, and bring Pakistan’s rules in line with international telecom practice.
Who Will Be Affected
The net is deliberately wide. Short-term foreign visitors are the obvious group — tourists, business travellers, and overseas Pakistanis visiting home on foreign SIMs would all need to verify their identity, possibly through a welcome SMS link, an activation flow, a PTA-approved digital portal, or coordination with immigration authorities.
Travel SIM and eSIM aggregators — the companies that sell instant-activation data plans to foreigners — would come under PTA oversight for the first time. Registered firms would have to disclose their underlying network providers and distribution channels, designate a local focal person, and share issuance, activation, KYC and usage data with the authority.
And then there are the long-stayers. Anyone whose foreign number stays active in Pakistan for 90 days or more within any 180-day window would be classified as a permanent roamer — and could lose service if their operator cannot justify the usage as legitimately temporary.
How Verification Would Actually Work
PTA is not prescribing one single method. The draft leaves operators room to verify through activation-time checks, welcome SMS links, a PTA-approved digital portal, or data-sharing with immigration and border-control authorities. For data-only eSIMs where SMS verification is technically unfeasible, operators would have to use alternative arrangements.
Operators would also have to deploy monitoring systems that flag permanent roaming and suspicious traffic patterns — and once a number is blocked for illegal or abusive use, a centralised database would stop it from reappearing on another network.
FAQs
Is PTA banning foreign SIMs in Pakistan?
No. PTA is proposing identity verification (KYC) for foreign SIMs and travel eSIMs under the draft International Roaming (Inbound) Regulations, 2026 — not a ban. Short-term visitors would continue to use roaming; they would just need to verify who they are first.
What is the 90-day roaming limit PTA is proposing?
Under the draft, any inbound roaming connection used for 90 days or more within any 180-day period would be classified as “permanent roaming.” Such connections could face suspension or blocking if operators cannot establish that the use is legitimately temporary.
What documents would inbound roamers need to provide?
According to the draft, operators would collect passport or travel-document details, nationality, the roaming SIM/eSIM identifiers, home operator details, and — where available — the arrival date and expected duration of stay.
Do travel eSIM companies need PTA approval now?
If the draft is finalised, yes. Travel SIM and eSIM aggregators operating in Pakistan would require compulsory PTA registration, and would have to disclose their network providers and distribution channels, designate a local focal person, and share issuance, activation, KYC and usage information with the authority.
Will overseas Pakistanis visiting home be affected?
Yes — anyone using a foreign-issued SIM while in Pakistan, including overseas Pakistanis, would fall under the inbound roaming framework and its proposed KYC requirements. The 90-in-180-day threshold would also apply to long visits on foreign numbers.
Are these rules in force already?
No. These are draft regulations published for consultation as of October 2026. They will only become enforceable once PTA finalises them, and the final version may differ from the current draft.
Why is PTA linking foreign SIMs to fraud and fake news?
PTA says the current lack of local KYC for inbound roamers has created a regulatory gap, with concerns that untraceable foreign SIMs and eSIMs have been used for spoofed calls, SMS phishing, extortion, e-commerce fraud, and social-media accounts spreading fake news and hate speech.
