Arya News - Launch will take place in phases, starting with federal ministries, attached departments.
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan will roll out a locally developed secure messaging app, ‘Beep’, for government employees in the coming months, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecom was informed on Tuesday.
The committee was told that the app — inspired by the Chinese platform WeChat — is almost ready for launch and is expected to meet its project deadline of June 30, 2026.
National Information Technology Board (NITB) Chief Executive Faisal Iqbal Ratyal said Beep had been developed locally and certified by relevant government agencies for official use.
Committee Chairman Syed Aminul Haque directed the NITB to ensure the timely rollout of the application.
“The purpose of launching Beep is to provide a secure messaging platform for public sector employees nationwide,” Mr Ratyal told the committee. He said the launch would take place in phases, starting with federal ministries and attached departments.
He added that the rollout was expected to begin within the next two months and that the app would be integrated with Pakistan’s federal e-Office system, enabling secure messaging, document sharing and workflow coordination within government institutions.
According to the NITB, Beep will offer end-to-end encryption for text messages as well as video calls used by government officials.
Committee members raised concerns about data security and the protection of official communications, citing recent global incidents that underscored vulnerabilities in digital platforms. Mr Ratyal stressed that additional security features had been incorporated and that Beep’s encryption standards had been strengthened to make it suitable for sensitive discussions.
On operational costs, the NITB chief said the platform would operate on a usage-based fee model and efforts were under way to make it financially self-sustaining over time.
Secretary IT told the committee that revenue generation was not the primary objective and that the main priority remained secure, efficient and reliable communication across state institutions. The committee was also informed that the National Computer Emergency Response Team (NCERT) had formally cleared the application for official deployment.
Members noted that WhatsApp, owned by Meta, remains the most widely used platform for voice calls, video calls and media sharing, but its data servers are located outside the country. Officials said Beep’s servers would be based in Pakistan, with stricter security safeguards inspired by WeChat.
The committee was also briefed that the federal e-Office system had been introduced to reduce paperwork and improve transparency, and that integrating Beep was expected to strengthen internal coordination and reduce operational risks.
PTA claim ‘incomprehensible’
In a separate discussion, lawmakers expressed a lack of confidence in Pakistan’s internet and telecom services and rejected the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s claim of 99 per cent user satisfaction.
Mr Haque challenged the PTA’s data presented in its Quality of Service report, which stated that mobile signal satisfaction stood at 99pc nationwide. Committee members unanimously rejected the figure, saying frequent internet slowdowns and weak mobile signals contradicted the regulator’s assessment. They described the claim as incomprehensible given prevailing conditions.
Committee member Sadiq Memon criticised the report and questioned the seriousness of the regulator’s approach, calling the findings “ridiculous” and warning that the gap between official reporting and public experience was widening.
Sharmila Faruqui questioned the methodology used by the PTA to compile its surveys and called for future Quality of Service assessments to be conducted by independent third parties rather than the regulator itself. She said external audits were necessary to improve credibility and ensure transparency.
The committee also recalled its earlier direction that the 5G spectrum auction be held in Pakistani rupees and that spectrum prices should not be set unnecessarily high. It directed that any discount or concession granted to telecom operators during the auction should be strictly linked to network and infrastructure improvements.
The committee also expressed concern over the absence of the director general of the Special Communications Organisation (SCO) for the third consecutive meeting.