Pakistan experiences slow internet amid undersea cable fault near Qatar

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) attributed widespread connectivity issues across the country to damage to an undersea cable. The authority stated that the fault occurred in the AAE-1 submarine cable near Qatar.

Pakistan's internet services were disrupted after one of the country's seven underwater internet cables was damaged near Qatar, the authority said in a statement.

“This is to inform the general public that fault has been reported in the submarine cable AAE-1 near Qatar.”

“This may impact internet and broadband user experience across Pakistan,” it added. 

"The concerned teams are working to fix the fault. The PTA is monitoring the situation and will keep updating telecom users accordingly," it added.

Pakistan has been experiencing frequent internet slowdowns and disruptions since the beginning of 2024. The business community attributes these issues to the government's alleged attempts to monitor and control internet traffic.

For the last few months, users across the country have been facing difficulties accessing and downloading media on WhatsApp due to sluggish internet speeds.

The connectivity issues further compunded  with limited access to virtual private networks, which restricted hundreds’ access to X.

The global speed test data stated that Pakistan has one of the slowest internet in the world despite government efforts to improve services and fix the broadband speed in October. 

On Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index, Pakistan ranked at 141 out of 158 nations with a median speed of 15.6 Mbps. In the mobile internet category, the country was ranked 100 out of 111, with a median speed of 20.6. 

Currently, Pakistan is relying on 8 terabytes of bandwidth provided by seven existing cables.