Last Updated on: 20th July 2023, 01:56 am
Pakistan Will Soon Face More Internet Outages
Apparently, internet outages are here to stay. More disruption is expected in Pakistan in the coming days due to flood damage during heavy rain. The floods caused cable cuts and damage to fiber optic cables in upper Sindh.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Wednesday shared a technical report with the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, sharing more detailed information on the matter. It said the repeated internet outages were mainly due to flood relief efforts in Sukkur Division, where fiber optic cables were damaged mainly by heavy machinery used to drain water in the area.
The ministry also requested technical reports from the telecommunications regulator, the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), after learning of repeated internet outages. The PTA said these internet outages were not caused by criminal activity or sabotage, but by digging ditches at various locations to drain excess water.
The latest outages earlier this week were reportedly caused by multiple power outages in Ghotki, Khairpur, and Sukkur districts, while the worst damage was reported at Ranipur Tehsil in Khairpur district.
IT and Telecom Minister Syed Aminul Haque said the situation is serious and we should expect more incidents in the future.
Also Read: Internet Speed Came Back To Normal in Pakistan, Says PTA
Due to severe flooding, most of the underground cable routes were submerged when rescue workers or locals tried to drain the floodwaters by digging trenches in roads and paths. The ministry instructed PTCL to declare an emergency so that repair work can begin when such an incident is reported in the system, while PTA continuously monitors service quality.
PTCL’s network cables have a total capacity of 6.5 terabytes, but only 70% of this is used so that traffic can be diverted to other cables in the event of an emergency.
Also Read: PTCL Users Will Experience Slow Internet Speeds For A Few Days