PTCL, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. says, teams are working to fix internet downtimes faced by the users across Pakistan.
These issues are basically caused by a failed underwater cable. The problem was starting the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) cable about near Qatar and had slowed speeds across the country networks. AAE-1, connecting Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and France, are operating in Pakistan since 2017.
Pakistani consumers have experienced fluctuating slowdowns since the beginning of 2024. Businesses claimed that the authority monitoring was causing speed issues. While, the PTA claimed that the issue was with an underwater cable.
Besides apologizing for the inconvenience, PTCL assured users that staff are working to resolve the problem.
PTCL spokesperson Amir Pasha confirmed that communication with multinational teams actively addressing the issue was going on.
The fault near Qatar is being reported to PTCL on a regular basis. Critics criticized Minister Shaza Fatima for saying no industries experienced internet problems during a National Assembly hearing. MNA Sharmila Farooqi, hailing from PPP, expressed dismay at the authorities’ negligent response.
Pakistan ranked 141st in the world for fixed broadband and ranked 100th out of 111 countries with a median speed of 15.6 Mbps in Ookla’s October Speedtest Global Index. Its median speed of mobile internet was 20.61 Mbps.
Customers had complained earlier about slow WhatsApp downloads, poor connectivity, and restricted VPN access in recent months.
Since July, mobile data is up from 101 to 100, while rankings of fixed broadband have gone up from 145 to 141.
In the National Assembly, the government admitted that it surveils social media for security reasons and throttles the internet.
During the periods of these throttling events, users in Pakistan still find themselves unable to access online services when they try.
Businesses and individual users suffer immensely from the nation’s inability to provide steady internet connectivity despite all the advancements.
PTCL aims to regain stable network performance as soon as possible.
In the world if 5G internet, Pakistan ranks among the nations with the slowest internet in the world.
