ISLAMABAD: After several days of internet disruption and concerns about billions in losses due to service slowdowns, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has attributed the issue to a “faulty submarine cable.”
PTA Chairman Major General Hafeezur Rehman (retd) made this statement during a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT.
He said that no firewalls were being installed, adding that the government’s web management system was being upgraded. PTA Chairman told the committee, “The internet slowdown in the country is due to a faulty submarine cable, which is expected to be repaired by August 28.”
His remarks follow widespread disruption in internet services across the nation, while X (formerly Twitter) has remained blocked in the country for almost six months.
According to one IT association, internet networks have been up to 40 percent slower than normal since July, while documents, images, and voice notes have been disrupted on WhatsApp, which is used by tens of millions of people.
Digital rights experts had stated that the government is testing a firewall—a security system that monitors network traffic but can also be used to control online spaces.
On August 15, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT sought an explanation from the PTA chairman and asked Rehman to provide reasons for the disruption in social media services.
Before that, State Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja categorically dismissed reports that the government was throttling the internet, emphasizing that the state was neither slowing down its speed nor shutting it down.
“The report of the government throttling the internet is incorrect,” she stated at a press conference in Islamabad.
“Some services of a few apps were affected because those services weren’t being downloaded. As a result, a large portion of the population began using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).”
Shaza then explained that increased use of VPNs to bypass Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and connect directly to live servers puts additional strain on those servers, which may ultimately slow down the internet.
