Major Internet Outage in Pakistan: What We Know So Far
The Internet in Pakistan is grappling with frequent disruptions, which are frustrating and impact daily life. Rumors about firewalls, excessive VPN use, and damage to submarine cables are surfacing all around. The situation is turning out to be disorderly, with no transparency from the government in the office or the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The current internet slowdown is 23 days old today, with confusion mounting among the masses with each passing day.
Pakistan’s internet problems are most damaging for businesses ranging from the IT industry to local online businesses. Multiple discouraging moments have been reported since the outage began earlier this month. In this article, we’ll look at the current status of the Internet in Pakistan, its impact on various sectors, and its future outlook.
Current Status of the Internet in Pakistan
As of August 28, 2024, reports of an internet slowdown continue to come in from across the country. A complete outage has yet to happen, but people report reduced internet speed and intermittent connectivity issues. WhatsApp has been hit hard, with many needing help to deliver or receive essential text messages. A similar case has also been witnessed with X, now permanently banned in Pakistan.
Multiple internet service providers (ISPs) have been affected by this ongoing issue. The main cause remains unknown, and uncertainty is rising. Government officials have cited a denial-of-service attack and excessive use of VPNs as the causes of internet slowdown. No proper response has come from the government on when the issue is going to be resolved.
Officials have been misleading everyday folks with false statements and ambiguous timelines for problem resolution. The causes cited by the government and the causes discovered by experts paint a different picture, which we’ll explore in the next section.
Causes of Recent Internet Problems in Pakistan
PTA Chairman Major General Hafeezur Rehman (Retd.) informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee of four issues behind the internet slowdown.
He told the committee that the SMW4 submarine cable had been cut and non-functional for about a month. Inland internet capacity was reduced by 1.5 terabits per second, putting the overall internet service under pressure.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) monitored an estimated 70% drop in internet services. They identified an ISP that was making a severe misconfiguration in the core network. He informed the committee that stern action had been taken to remove three technical managers at the ISP.
The third cause he cited was the degradation in internet traffic entering the country by 1.5 terabytes per second. They think the day coincided with the Indian National Day and might have been caused by a distributed denial of service attack.
The PTA Chairman cited the widespread use of VPNs as one last reason for slow internet. He also briefed the committee on the technical aspects of the internet troubles.
Impact of Internet Outages on Pakistan
When the internet goes down in Pakistan, everything goes down, like anywhere else. Businesses and the economy are hit hardest. You can’t communicate with international or even national clients, transactions stop, and you suffer financial loss.
Take the case of freelancers from Pakistan labeled as unavailable on Fiverr, a significant setback for young entrepreneurs.
Similar impacts also creep into other sectors, including education, healthcare, and government departments. Service delivery stops, and communication becomes difficult.
Solutions and Future Outlook
In short, we need internet companies and the government to be honest and open with us. They should tell us what’s happening and when things will be fixed. With these improvements, Pakistan’s internet can become a robust and reliable tool, connecting us to the world and helping us build a better future.
Explore our guides on How to Unblock Your SIM After FBR Tax Filing and the latest E-SIM Options in Pakistan to stay connected. For more tech news and updates, keep visiting TechBazaar Blog.
