Pakistan Telecommunications Limited (PTCL) announced on Thursday that internet services were “now fully operational” after the complete restoration of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) undersea internet cable.

The AAE-1 is a 25,000-kilometre cable connecting Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, with Malaysia and Singapore, then onwards to Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France, according to its website.

Internet users across Pakistan complained of slow internet and hindered access to services throughout 2024. On January 3, PTCL said teams were “diligently” working to resolve the matter of disruptions faced by users after a fault in the AAE-1 subsea internet cable connecting Pakistan slowed down the network speed in the country.

A day after that, IT minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said around 80 per cent of the bandwidth shortfall caused by the fault had been recovered as traffic had been shifted to two other cables. Last week, PTCL had told Dawn.com that there was no exact timeframe for the resolution of slow internet connectivity or the cable’s repair.

However, a statement issued today by the PTCL spokesperson on the cable’s “complete restoration” said: “PTCL resolves internet slowness caused by the AAE-1 submarine cable outage in record time. Internet services are now fully operational and browsing is smooth.”

It said the additional bandwidth it had added had ensured “minimal disruption” during the issue and services on Meta platforms — WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram — were also “fully functional with seamless experience”.

“Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and PTCL teams worked tirelessly to restore full connectivity. PTCL thanks customers for their patience and understanding during the restoration process,” the statement concluded.