Pakistan re-connects to internet as submarine cable fault fixed

ISLAMABAD - Internet services have been restored across the country after a 38-hour-long disruption caused by a fault in an undersea internet cable, said the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Sunday evening.

According to the company, the submarine cable system IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe), which had developed a fault on Saturday morning slowing down Internet speed in Pakistan to half, has been fixed.

Good News! The repair work on the IMEWE cable has been completed and the internet connectivity has been restored. Thanks for your patience.

— PTCL (@PTCLOfficial) August 6, 2017

The disruption in the global internet infrastructure had impacted broadband users from all walks of life in Pakistan, including mobile broadband 3G/4G/LTE users, landline users and corporate users having dedicated speed connections.

The speed would have gone dead-slow if the PTCL had not connected the country to the world via the latest and the largest submarine cable (AAE1) last month.



PTCL Chief Business Development Officer Sikander Naqi told the media that a cable was cut in Saudi Arabia near Jeddah Saturday morning. "Experts initially thought the cut was under the sea but after a bit of research, they figured out that the cable that was cut is on land. It has now been repaired and services are back to normal," he added.

"[Internet] connectivity will be the same as before," Naqi assured, apologising to customers who faced difficulties working due to the fault.

The PTCL official, however, could not place an estimate on the resultant economic loss due to impaired internet connectivity.

"The cable is still being repaired and internet connectivity in other affected countries will be restored in a few hours," Naqi added.

FLIGHTS RESUMPTION

Flight operations at Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport were restored after the fault was repaired.

The internet disruption prevented airport officials confirming flight schedules and ticket bookings, as a result of which at least eight flights domestic and international flights were cancelled on Sunday.

The cancelled flights include:

Domestic

PA-201: Islamabad-Karachi; PK-368: Karachi-Islamabad

International

PA-210: Islamabad-Dubai; PK-701: Islamabad-Manchester; NL-705: Islamabad-Madina; NL-706: Madina-Islamabad; PA-211: Dubai-Islamabad; PK-742: Jeddah-Islamabad