The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reported frequent disruptions in internet service in Pakistan over the past five years, with several incidents occurring this year alone.
A recent official document highlights the ongoing challenges faced by the country’s internet infrastructure, often due to submarine cable failures. According to the PTA, there were four major disruptions in 2024. In February, a land cable cut in Egypt severely impacted internet services in Pakistan.
Read more: PTA Issued Warning About Possible Disruptions to Mobile Networks, Internet and ATMs
The most recent disruption occurred on June 17 due to a submarine cable fault near Karachi, with repairs not expected to be completed until September 24. Additionally, a fault in the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) system on July 31 caused nationwide outages.
From August 17 to 27, another disruption occurred due to a fault in the Asia Africa Europe-3 (AAE-3) submarine cable. This followed a similar incident in April 2023 when an earth cable cut in France led to widespread connectivity issues.
The report also details previous incidents: in November 2022, a ground cable cut in Egypt caused major disruptions, while a malfunction in the TW1 cable in Karachi in February 2022 resulted in a three-month-long outage. In December 2021, a cut in the UAE’s AAE-1 cable affected services for several hours, and earlier in February 2021, another ground cable cut in Egypt led to significant connectivity problems.
