Internet slowdown in Pakistan was due to faulty submarine cable, not VPN usage: PTA

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) cleared air about fault in submarine cable as the main cause of the recent internet slowdown across the country.

Chairman of Telecom Authority Hafiz Rahman told Standing Committee on Information Technology revealed that disruption was due to an issue with one of the seven fiber optic cables that deliver 7.5 terabits of data to Asian nation. This cable is expected to be repaired by August 27.

He dismissed claims by Minister of State for IT, Shaza Fatima, who suggested that widespread use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) was responsible for internet issues. He clarified that the problem was specific to Pakistan and was not part of a global outage.

Slow Internet in Pakistan

Clearing air to questions from committee, he acknowledged disruption had on local internet services and freelancers, who bore brunt for almost two weeks. He assured that authorities are closely monitoring the situation and are working to restore full connectivity once the submarine cable is fixed.

This situation highlighted vulnerability of Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, which relies heavily on a small number of submarine cable systems. Experts are calling for increased investment and diversification to improve the country’s digital connectivity and resilience against future disruptions.