Internet services across Pakistan were affected on January 2 due to a fault in the international submarine cable AAE-1, disrupting 1,000 gigabytes per second (Gbps) of data traffic, stated Minister of State for IT Shaza Fatima on Saturday.
The state minister claimed that alternative arrangements had been made to mitigate the impact.
“Of the affected data traffic, 630Gbps has already been diverted to an alternative route, and another 200Gbps will be rerouted soon to ensure seamless connectivity,” she said.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that there has been no major degradation in internet service nationwide. The PTA is closely monitoring the situation and working with stakeholders to expedite the restoration of the submarine cable.
Authorities have assured the public that efforts are underway to fully restore internet services as soon as possible. Users may, however, experience minor slowdowns until the restoration process is complete. Further updates will be provided as the situation develops.
To address the issue of degradation of internet services due to the fault in AAE-1 submarine cable, PTA announced that ad hoc bandwidth had been arranged and added to the system.
“PTA is committed to ensuring that all services remain stable during this period,” the PTA said in a press release.
On Friday, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) confirmed the cable outage and said users might experience slow browsing. “Teams are working diligently to resolve the matter as soon as possible,” PTCL stated on X, formerly known as Twitter.
