ISLAMABAD: Internet users, already facing disruptions in parts of upper Punjab and the federal capital due to politically related law and order issues, are likely to experience further slow connectivity today (Tuesday) ow­­ing to technical reasons.

Pakistan Tele­commu­nications Limited (PTCL) said that a maintenance activity has been planned on one of the company’s submarine cables to repair a faulty repeater by the international cable consortium.

“The activity will start on October 14, around 11 in the morning, and may last for up to 18 hours,” the company said in a statement, adding that customers may face degraded internet service during this period. However, the company did not specify which submarine cable system requires maintenance.

The slowdown is expec­ted to affect all mobile and internet service providers in the country.

The state-owned PTCL manages three undersea optical fibre cable networks that provide international internet connectivity to Pakistan.

The combined capacity of all six submarine cable systems serving the country, including three PTCL cable systems, two submarine cable systems of Trans World Associates (Pvt) Ltd and PEACE cable of Cyber Internet Services, stands at 13Tbps, while national usage currently ranges between 7 and 8 Tbps.

A senior PTA official said that an excess capacity of 30 to 40 per cent must always be maintained across submarine cable networks to allow for quick shifting of internet load in case any system suffers damage or disruption.

Meanwhile, with the continuous rise in mobile data and internet demand and in anticipation of the launch of 5G services, Pakistan has entered into an agreement to join the AAE-2 submarine cable system. The project is expected to be connected to Pakistan’s network by the end of 2025, increasing the country’s total internet capacity to 14 Tbps.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2025