Your non-PTA phone stops after 60 days. Then what?

How the 60 days are actually counted

The clock starts the day the handset first connects to a Pakistani network with a local SIM in it — not the day you bought it, and not the day you landed. A phone that sits in its box does not start counting.

At sixty days PTA's DIRBS system blocks that IMEI on local networks. Blocked means:

• No outgoing or incoming calls
• No SMS
• No mobile data — on any local SIM, Jazz, Zong, Ufone or Telenor

The phone itself is fine. Everything works over Wi-Fi — WhatsApp, FaceTime, YouTube. What stops is anything that comes down a local SIM.

One thing people get wrong: the sixty days are not per SIM. It is counted against the handset's IMEI, so swapping SIMs does not restart it.

If you are only visiting from abroad there is a further option: PTA's temporary registration, which lets overseas Pakistanis and foreign nationals use their phone free for up to 120 days.

• PTA — DIRBS and device registration
• Visiting from abroad? PTA's free 120-day registration

Three routes, and nobody writes about the third

Search this and you will be told two things: pay the tax, or live on Wi-Fi. Both are true. There is a third, it is not right for everyone, and the honest way to explain it is to be straight about the other two first.

Route 1 — pay the tax and register it

This is the complete fix. Once registered the handset behaves exactly like a PTA-approved one: a Pakistani number, calls, SMS, data, all of it. One payment and the problem is gone for good.

The amount depends on the handset's value. A cheap phone registers for very little; a current flagship iPhone is the expensive end — reported at anywhere from Rs. 550 to well over Rs. 37,500. FBR duties change, so get your own figure from FBR or PTA's own calculator rather than from any blog, including this one.

When it is the right answer: this is your main phone and you intend to keep it for two or three years. The one-off tax almost always comes in under three years of buying data.

When it is money wasted: you plan to sell the handset, it is a second phone, or you are leaving the country again in a few months.

• PTA — device registration system (DIRBS)
• FBR

Route 2 — live on Wi-Fi

The cheapest route, because it is free. The block applies to local SIM service; DIRBS has nothing to do with Wi-Fi. At home, at the office, in a cafe, the phone works completely.

The problem is the obvious one: it is useless the moment you step outside. No ride-hailing, no Maps, no WhatsApp on the road. For someone who rarely travels it genuinely works. For everyone else it is not a fix, it is putting up with it.

Route 3 — a roaming data eSIM

This is the one missing from those articles, and it needs one idea explained first. DIRBS blocks local subscriptions. A handset roaming in Pakistan is not a Pakistani operator's customer — it is a visitor on their network — so the block does not reach it.

A roaming eSIM is exactly that. No new SIM in the tray, no registration, no passport. Scan the QR and the internet works, whether or not the sixty days ran out months ago.

But — and this is the part sellers tend to leave out — there are no calls, no SMS and no Pakistani number. Data only. Your bank's OTP will not arrive on it. WhatsApp, IMO, Signal and FaceTime all run on data, so those are fine.

When it is the right answer: you need internet out of the house and you do not need a Pakistani number, or the number already lives in another handset.

When it is the wrong answer: calls have to reach this phone, or your bank sends its OTP to this number.

A blocked non-PTA phone working again? Here is why

Now and then people report that a non-PTA phone blocked for months suddenly works on a Pakistani SIM again. There have been reports like this before, and PTA has explained them.

According to TechJuice, PTA said older IMEI records were cleared during routine DIRBS maintenance, which put some older phones back into a grace period. PTA was clear that this was not a change in policy.

So a phone like that works for a while and is then blocked again. Do not rely on it — the lasting fixes are the three routes above.

• TechJuice — non-PTA phones and PTA's explanation

The two-phone arrangement most people end up with

In practice most people do this: keep the old PTA-approved handset with the Pakistani number in it, so calls and OTPs still arrive, and run the new non-PTA phone on a data eSIM.

No tax, and nothing is lost. The new phone does everything it is good at — camera, screen, apps — and the old one just holds the number.

The short answer

If this is your main phone and you are keeping it for years, pay the tax. Over that span it is both cheaper and complete.

If you only need internet outside, or the handset is here for a few months, or the number already lives elsewhere, a data eSIM is the cheap thing that works this afternoon.

If you barely leave the house, Wi-Fi is enough. Buy nothing.

How long does a SIM work in a non-PTA phone?

Sixty days — from the day a Pakistani SIM first connects in the phone. The count belongs to the phone's IMEI, not the SIM, so swapping SIMs does not restart it.

The 60 days are up. Will an eSIM still work?

Yes. A roaming eSIM is unaffected by the DIRBS block. Whether the sixty days have passed makes no difference to it.

My non-PTA phone started working again — is it registered now?

No. According to PTA this is an effect of DIRBS maintenance, not a policy change, and the phone is blocked again after the grace period. To check its actual status, text the IMEI to 8484.

Does a new SIM restart the 60 days?

No. The count is against the handset's IMEI, not the SIM. Swapping SIMs changes nothing.

Is the phone useless once it is blocked?

No. It works completely over Wi-Fi. What stops is calls, SMS and mobile data from a local SIM.

Will my bank's OTP arrive on a data eSIM?

No. An OTP is an SMS and a data eSIM has no SMS. Keep the number that receives it in a handset that is working.

How much is the tax?

It depends on the handset's value — reported between Rs. 550 and well over Rs. 37,500. Get your own figure from FBR or PTA's calculator; these amounts change.

After registering, do I still need an eSIM?

Not in Pakistan. Once registered a local SIM does everything. Travelling abroad is a different question, and an eSIM is still useful there.