PTA Blames Submarine Cable Fault for Disrupted Internet in Pakistan

On Tuesday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ascribed the continued internet delay and degradation of services to a malfunction in “two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally”.

The clarification came in the aftermath of the ongoing internet delay, which experts and stakeholders blamed on the alleged testing of an internet firewall to control social media, which is equipped with filters to prevent undesired content from reaching a larger audience.

“The AAE-1 cable has experienced a 250G outage due to rerouting between Iran and Qatar,” according to an official statement from the telecommunications authorities.

Similarly, the PTA stated that the SMW 4 cable (1.5T) has been out of operation due to problems near Karachi. It also stated that operators were redirecting traffic to other available cables in order to “minimise the impact on internet users in Pakistan“.

PTA Clarifies Role of National Firewall System in Internet Slowdown

“The concerned teams are fixing the fault and PTA is monitoring the situation till internet speeds are normalised in the country,” the statement went on to say.

A day earlier, PTA Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeezur Rehman admitted to upgrading the National Firewall System (NFS) or Web Management System (WMS) to restrict or remove content from social media, claiming executive or judicial instructions.

According to The News, the PC-1 for the NFS upgrade was granted in March 2019, under the reign of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. He also stated that social media messaging service X, formerly known as Twitter, was prohibited for failing to comply with the interior ministry’s directions, since there was a specified procedure under the law to impose a ban or remove content from social media.

According to the Web Management System, it is the PTA’s responsibility to comply with executive or superior court rulings, and the PTA chief mentioned examples of content removal relating to obscenity or blasphemy.

However, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology unanimously opposed slowing down the internet or banning social media platforms. They urged the Ministry of IT to collaborate and provide specific estimates of IT sector losses.

The Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP), Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), and IT experts have slammed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government on the issue, citing the economic impact on freelancers, IT professionals, and the digital economy in general.

With P@SHA estimating a $300 million loss due to existing complaints by businesses and reputational damage, WISPAP Chairman Shahzad Arshad has stated that businesses and individuals who rely on reliable internet connectivity, which is an essential pillar of the country’s digital economy, are now “struggling to maintain operations, and the slowdown is threatening their very survival”.

However, the government has denied any participation in the matter, with State Minister for Information Technology Shaza Fatima Khawaja citing internet users’ use of virtual private networks (VPNs) as the cause of “their phones” slowing down.

“I swear that the government of Pakistan did not block or slow down the internet,” she told the journalists last week.