ISLAMABAD, June 30: Restoration of the internet system in the country could take at least another week as the ship arranged by the SEA-ME-WE-3 consortium had not yet reached the fault site, official sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

They said it was impossible to put the Internet system on a normal track within two or three days as the ship, which had sailed from Dubai, would take another two to three days to reach the site. It could take more than a week for any apparent improvement in Pakistan’s Internet system, which has been down since Friday.

Meanwhile, the management of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) claimed in an official statement that it was providing enhanced satellite-based Internet provider (IP) connectivity to corporate customers, including banks, airline ticketing system, call centres and other financial services.

The statement said the PTCL had added 136MB (2,000 circuits) for voice and 1,500 circuits for data and call centres on satellite in addition to 8,475 circuits, to overcome the problem.

The PTCL officials said seven call centres in Lahore with 6MB, six centres in Karachi with 7MB and five in Islamabad with 9MB had been provided with full capacity on priority basis.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Air Blue had been provided with full connectivity, while other airlines were being approached for their requirements, the statement maintained.

It said some of the leading banks had also been given the facility while others were being approached to fulfil their requirements.

Many of the software companies and TV channels have been provided with full connectivity.

The company said the country’s three stock exchanges were already connected.

Long Distance International (LDI) operators had been offered traffic carriage alternative for voice on receipt of consent and the offered arrangement were activated, the statement said.

It said the company was in close liaison with the SEA-ME-WE-3 consortium. All these back-up satellite services were being provided for free to the customers.

It said keeping in view the vulnerability of the international communication, the company had already invested Rs2.4 billion to arrange alternate connectivity through SEA-ME-WE-4, which would be available from October this year.