The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Thursday that work was being done to repair a fault in an undersea internet cable, adding that users might experience disruptions as a result.
The Africa-Asia-Europe (AAE)-1 cable, which began operations in 2017, connects Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France.
However, faults with the cable caused internet users in Pakistan to experience frequent slowdowns and disruptions in 2024. While businesses and internet providers alleged that the government’s attempts to monitor internet traffic were responsible, the PTA issued a statement in August attributing the slowdown to a faulty submarine cable.
In a statement issued today, the PTA said a fault was detected in the AAE-1 cable near Qatar, noting that the cable was one of the seven international undersea cables connecting Pakistan for international internet traffic.
“This may impact internet and broadband user experience across Pakistan,” the statement said about the fault.
“The concerned teams are working to fix the fault,” the statement added. “PTA is monitoring the situation and will keep updating telecom users accordingly.”
Pakistan has one of the slowest internet in the world despite improvement in average mobile and fixed broadband speeds in October, according to global speed test data.
Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index for October showed that for fixed broadband — wired connections to your homes or offices — Pakistan ranked 141 out of 158 nations with a median speed of 15.6mbps.
In terms of mobile data, the country ranked 100 out of 111 countries with a median speed of 20.61mbps.
For the last few months, users across Pakistan have experienced sluggish speeds, difficulty downloading media on WhatsApp, and intermittent connectivity issues.
The frequent internet disruptions were coupled with limited access to virtual private networks used by many Pakistanis to access X, among other restricted websites. Since July, the country has improved its ranking for fixed broadband speed from 145 to 141 and mobile data from 101 to 100.
The government had tacitly acknowledged last month on the floor of the National Assembly that it was behind the ongoing internet disruptions and monitoring of social media platforms, citing prevailing security concerns.