Tech Desk
Aug 24, 2024
Pakistan reportedly experienced a severe internet outage lasting several weeks, which had a widespread impact across all industries. The outage significantly disrupted the digital sphere, damaging the country’s reputation and posing a serious threat to Pakistan's economy.
Initially, the issue went largely unnoticed until it was addressed during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on IT and Telecom. During the meeting, committee members expressed their concerns and demanded an explanation from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Retd. Major General Hafeezur Rehman regarding the situation.
Rehman stated: "Minister of State of Information Technology (IT), Shaza Fatima Khawaja, has provided reasons for internet outage in a press conference. The Submarine Consortium informed us that the internet is affected by the fault in the submarine cable."
Read more: PTA addresses ongoing internet outages across Pakistan
Users remained unsatisfied and concerned regarding the current internet issues, but much to the dismay of natives, Gadinsider discussed this issue with Doud Madory, an American Internet routing infrastructure expert, and he said: "There was a submarine cable break that is affecting Pakistan but that occurred in June. There may be another issue that is compounding the loss of the cable that has caused the more recent problems."
Madory clarified the situation, sharing his thoughts on Pakistan's internet issues. He suggested that another factor, in addition to the submarine cable fault, may be contributing to the ongoing problems.
“If the recent issues started in the past couple of weeks, then it must be something in addition to the submarine cable cut that occurred on June 17th," Madory added.
On June 17, a fault occurred in the submarine cable, disrupting internet services in Pakistan. The issue was attributed to a technical problem in the underwater cable, which connects Pakistan to the global internet network.
Gadinsider further asked Madory about the government's involvement in the internet slowdown, and whether officials' claims were credible. Doug responded: "I am aware. I just wanted to point out that the impacts from the June 17th cable cut are still visible in internet routing (BGP). However, if the issues started in the past couple of weeks, then there must be another factor at play."
Currently, the internet issues are expected to be resolved by August 27.
