Internet users reported sluggish speeds on Tuesday, particularly in parts of upper Punjab and Islamabad
An international cable consortium has completed repairs on a faulty repeater in one of its submarine cables, restoring internet connectivity across Pakistan, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited announced on Wednesday.
Internet users had reported sluggish speeds on Tuesday, particularly in parts of upper Punjab and Islamabad, where connectivity issues were further compounded by the prevailing law and order situation.
On Monday, PTCL had warned that internet users across Pakistan might experience slower speeds and intermittent connectivity as maintenance work was carried out on one of the country’s main submarine cables.
A scheduled repair operation began around 11 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time on Tuesday to fix the faulty repeater in the undersea cable system, the statement said.
The activity was expected to last up to 18 hours, during which customers could face service degradation or delays in international connectivity. “We regret the inconvenience and appreciate our customers’ patience during this essential maintenance window,” a spokesperson for the telecom operator said.
PTCL, the state-owned telecom operator, manages three of Pakistan’s six undersea optical fibre cable systems that provide international internet connectivity. The remaining systems include two operated by Trans World Associates (Pvt.) Ltd and one by Cyber Internet Services under the PEACE cable network.
Together, these six submarine cable systems offer a total capacity of around 13 terabits per second (Tbps), while Pakistan’s current national usage ranges between 7 and 8 Tbps, according to PTCL.
