Internet Services Disrupted After Submarine Cable Goes Offline

According to our sources at PTA, a fault in one of the international underwater cables, the SMW4, has been recorded, resulting in degraded internet access across the country. PTCL has notified ISPs across Pakistan that an outage on one of the international upstream networks has happened once more.

Standard procedures to offer consumers uninterrupted internet connections have failed thus far, with eastbound traffic being severely hampered due to pending difficulties that have yet to be rectified. The fault happened in the eastern segment, according to sources, but the specific site of the fault has yet to be determined.

Because much of the traffic to and from Pakistan passes through India and Singapore, the impact may be larger than usual.

According to PTA sources, Pakistan’s total bandwidth capacity has been reduced by roughly 20% as a result of today’s outage. The situation is being monitored by the relevant authorities, and PTA has urged PTCL to increase capacity on other cables in order to reduce degradation.

Users around the country will expect glitches and slower internet connections until the problem is resolved. Officials have not given an ETA for the submarine cable’s restoration, and it might take hours, days, or even weeks before it is fully operational again.