The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has carried out several raids across the country to clamp down on what it calls illegal Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

In a statement earlier this week, the PTA noted that Zonal Offices in Sukkur, Lahore, and Faisalabad collaborated with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) "to conduct several raids against franchises involved in illegal activation of SIMs and illegal ISPs."

In total 56 "suspicious SIMs" were seized in the Sukkar raid, while a raid in Kasur yielded 26 active SIMs.

"The accused individuals have been apprehended by the FIA, and FIRs have been lodged against them," said the PTA.

Another two raids were carried out in Chichawatni, aimed at bringing down illegal ISP setups.

According to the PTA, the raids recovered a "significant amount of equipment," including 12 optical line terminals (OLT), four dish antennas, one UPS, two batteries, 350 meter OFC cable, one Optical Network Terminal, one OLT charger, and a manual billing book.

The crackdown also uncovered an illegally erected tower with several dish antennas. PTA noted that the tower was dismantled by the FIA team.

In unrelated news, earlier this week, the PTA inaugurated a new data center in Islamabad.

The facility is designed to Uptime's Tier III standards, though the facility is not listed as certified at present, says PTA.

Details about the facility are sparse, though it is said to include a 24x7 Network Operation Center and Security Operation Center.