Federal Secretary for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Zarrar Hasham, informed an NA panel that the repair work for the damaged undersea internet cables located off the coast of Yemen could take a period of four to five weeks.
In response to a query during the National Assembly Standing Committee on Information Technology, he clarified that multiple cables near the Yemeni coast had been cut, as reported by The News.
He stated to the NA committee, “Numerous submarine cables near the coast of Yemen have been severed, and two of the cables serving Pakistan have been affected; the restoration of these damaged cables might require four to five weeks.”
He conveyed to the lawmakers that the situation in Yemen is intricate, mentioning that while two of the affected cables are vital for Pakistan, a total of four to five cables in that region have sustained damage.
The IT Secretary also mentioned that companies have rerouted their bandwidth to alternative paths to maintain uninterrupted services.
Earlier this month, the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) had indicated that internet users in the country might face disruptions due to cuts in submarine cables in Saudi waters near Jeddah.
According to a statement from the internet provider, the cuts near Jeddah partially impacted the bandwidth capacity on the SMW4 and IMEWE systems, which are two of the crucial undersea cables linking the country to global networks.
The statement further added that while international partners were working on a priority basis to restore the damaged links, local teams had made arrangements for alternative bandwidth to lessen the impact.
