ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has disclosed that the recent internet outage in Pakistan was caused by a fault in a submarine cable.
PTA Chairman Hafiz Rahman provided details to the Standing Committee on Information Technology, led by Syed Aminul Haque. The committee sought clarity on the disruption’s causes and the presence of a firewall system.
Rahman explained that the disruption occurred due to a fault in one of the seven fiber optic cables that supply 7.5 terabits of data to Pakistan.
The damaged cable is expected to be repaired by August 27. He assured that this issue is localized to Pakistan’s cable infrastructure and not a global problem.
Earlier, Minister of State for IT Shaza Fatima had suggested that the increased use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) was causing internet slowdowns. She argued that the rise in VPN usage due to restricted services had put additional strain on the network, affecting internet speeds.
Additionally, ongoing internet disruptions have been linked to new firewall systems implemented at major internet gateways to monitor and filter traffic.
While these systems help control website content and social media, they also assist in tracing the source of objectionable material.