Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTCL) said teams were “working diligently” to address internet service disruption caused by a fault in the international submarine cable.
“Due to an international submarine cable outage, you may experience slow browsing issues. Teams are working diligently to resolve the matter as soon as possible,” PTCL said in a statement on Friday.
“We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused during this time.”
According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), a submarine cable fault near Qatar might impact Pakistan’s internet and broadband user experience.
“This is to inform the general public that a fault has been reported in the submarine cable AAE-1 near Qatar (one of the seven international undersea cables connecting Pakistan for international internet traffic),” the PTA said in a statement on Thursday.
“This may impact internet and broadband user experience across Pakistan.”
The Africa-Asia-Europe (AAE)-1 cable, which began operations in 2017, connects Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.
PTA said the concerned teams were working to fix the fault. “PTA is monitoring the situation and will keep updating telecom users accordingly,” it added.
The development came after PTA Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman told the National Assembly’s (NA) Standing Committee on Information Technology & Telecommunication that four new submarine cables were being introduced to enhance the country’s internet performance.
Pakistan remains engulfed in internet disruptions, while social media platform X remains blocked in the country.
Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index for October showed that for fixed broadband — wired connections to homes or offices — Pakistan ranked 141 out of 158 nations with a median speed of 15.6mbps.
In terms of mobile data, the country ranked 100 out of 111 countries with a median speed of 20.61mbps.
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