KARACHI, June 27: Internet connections and other telecommunications channels of the country broke down on Monday night when a key fibre optic link of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company developed a fault. A spokesman for the PTCL said the overland fibre optic link —known as SEA-ME-WE-III in technical parlance — was not defective. But he indicated that the undersea cable might have developed a fault. The spokesman said that the PTCL engineers were trying to locate the fault.

But sources in the international gateway exchange of the PTCL said a breakdown in the local power supply system of a key device had caused the fibre optic cable to become defective.

They said a similar technical fault had dealt a blow to the fibre optic link the previous day. But, they added, downtime was comparatively low.

The PTCL spokesman said while there was congestion in the country’s Internet system, overseas calls faced no such problem. He added that every time a breakdown in the fibre optic link occurred, the country’s telecommunications channels switched over to the satellite system.

Members of the Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan said the satellite channel was not large enough to allow the Internet to work smoothly.

They added that telecommunications channels in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad were down. They complained that despite recurring lapses, the PTCL was taking no step to rectify the fibre optic link once and for all.