'Faulty submarine cable’ causing slow internet countrywide: PTA chief

Islamabad: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday claimed that “faulty submarine cable”  was causing slow internet across the country, clarifying that no firewalls were being installed. 

"Submarine Consortium has informed [us] that the internet [services] are affected due to a fault in the submarine cable which will be resolved by August 27," PTA Chairman Major General (retd) Hafeezur Rehman said while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on IT.

Seven fibre optic cables were connected with Pakistan of which one was damaged, he further informed the committee.

Internet speeds have witnes­sed a visible decline over the past few weeks, and users are facing difficulties in sending or down­loading media and voice notes through WhatsApp when connected to mobile data, and experiencing slow browsing speeds, even on broadband.

Slow internet in the last few days sparked harsh criticism by lawmakers and the public.

The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the government’s efforts to monitor internet traffic — including a so-called ‘firewall’ — had caused the slowdown of digital services, resulting in economic losses.