Internet slowdown likely to continue till October, says PTA

The ongoing internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to fault in two (SMW4, AAE-1) of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said in a statement, adding that fault in SMW-4 submarine cable is likely to be repaired by early October 2024,  

“Whereas submarine cable AAE-1 has been repaired which may improve internet experience,” it said.

Last week, PTA Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeez Rehman stated that the internet services are affected in the country due to a fault in the submarine cable.

He had revealed it while briefing the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Information Technology on the disruption of internet services and social media services in the country. The meeting was chaired by Syed Aminul Haque.

He also highlighted that in this situation, the use of VPNs has led to local internet outages in Pakistan.

For several past weeks, users in Pakistan have been facing problems in downloading and sending multimedia files such as videos, audios and others through social media platforms due to slow internet speed.