After several days of internet disruption and fear of billions in losses due to a slowdown in services, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has traced the issue to a ‘faulty submarine cable,’.
PTA Chairman Major General Hafeezur Rehman (retd) revealed this information during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT on Wednesday.
He emphasized that no new firewalls were being installed, clarifying that it was the government’s web management system undergoing an upgrade.
“In my opinion, the internet should not slow down due to an upgrade,” he said. “The telecom sector has suffered a loss of Rs300 million,” he claimed.
“Seven fibre optic cables run in Pakistan to deliver internet and one cable has malfunctioned that created internet connectivity issues. One cable delivers 7.5 terabytes data in Pakistan.
“Only Pakistan is affected by cable faults. No other country faces such a problem,” the PTA chairman claimed. He asserted that the authority only suspended social media site X on the recommendations of the federal government. “Pakistanis have to face internet outages for one more week,” he said.