ISLAMABAD, July 1: Bad weather has delayed for another 24 hours arrival of a ship to Karachi from Dubai to repair the faulty undersea optic fibre cable, Pakistan’s sole Internet link with the rest of the world, excepting satellite links recently acquired by the PTCL, according to sources.

Sources told Dawn the ratio of extensive damage to the cable was between 40 and 50 per cent and it could take days, not hours, to detect and remove the faults.

They said Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) staff was still in the dark about reasons behind the fault, which could be confirmed only by technicians arriving in the ship because they belonged to the company which had laid the cable.

They said the PTCL officials’ attributing the fault to power supply suspension to the international gateway cable was merely a guess.

A PTCL official, who was present at SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine when the fault appeared, said it was a big damage which had crippled the Internet system of the entire country, besides slightly affecting the mobile phone service.

When contacted, PTCL spokesman Ansar Bhatti confirmed the delay in the arrival of the ship. He said the ship was not covered because it carried equipment and that was why it could not sail during rain or bad whether.

Mr Bhatti said he did know about exact location where the ship had stopped, but expressed the hope that it would arrive on Saturday evening. The ship was earlier scheduled to reach Karachi on Friday, he added.

He said the country’s internet system had witnessed some improvement after it was linked to satellite.

When asked whether the government had contacted India for connecting its system with that of the neighbouring country’s, he said talks at ministerial or secretary level were yet to begin between the countries who were in contact at lower level.

He said immediate laying of another submarine optic fibre cable, SEA-ME-WE-4, was a priority since it would provide an alternative system to the existing SEA-ME-WE-3 line.