Internet services throughout the country are expected to continue to be slow until “early October.” The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Wednesday that the submarine cable responsible for the disruptions is likely to be repaired by then. Over the past few weeks, internet speeds have significantly decreased, causing difficulties for users when sending or downloading media and voice notes through WhatsApp on mobile data. Users have also reported slow browsing speeds, even on broadband connections. The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) have claimed that the government’s efforts to monitor internet traffic, including the implementation of a so-called ‘firewall,’ have led to the slowdown of digital services, resulting in economic losses.
The country’s Information Technology Minister, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, has confirmed that the government is upgrading its “web management system” to deal with cyber security threats. She has categorically denied reports of the government “throttling” the internet. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had attributed the recent internet slowdown to a faulty submarine cable and dismissed fears of the state installing a firewall. In a statement issued today, the PTA clarified that the cyber slowdown was due to issues with two submarine cables, one of which is yet to be repaired. The ongoing internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to faults in two (SMW4, AAE-1) of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally.
The telecom authority has informed that the fault in the SMW-4 submarine cable is expected to be repaired by early October 2024. Additionally, the PTA highlighted that the AAE-1 submarine cable has already been repaired, which is likely to improve the internet experience. Previously, PTA Chairman Hafeezur Rehman, a retired major general, had stated that the damaged submarine cable would be repaired by August 27. This claim was made during a session with a National Assembly panel, during which he faced tough questions from both government and opposition lawmakers.
Reasons for cyber slowdown
Last week, the PTA informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) that a fault in the submarine cable had affected internet speed in the country, and repairs on the underwater internet cable were underway. The PTA cited three other reasons for the outages in its response to the LHC: a damaged submarine cable, a misconfiguration in an ISP’s system, and possible cyber-attacks on August 15. Additionally, the government has blamed the widespread use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) due to the prolonged ban on the social media platform X, which has led to increased VPN usage. Amnesty International has called on Pakistani authorities to provide greater transparency on the nationwide internet slowdown and the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies.
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