Nationwide internet outage slashes Pakistan’s connectivity to 20%

Pakistan faced a major internet disruption on Tuesday evening, with connectivity dropping to just 20 percent of normal levels, according to global internet observatory NetBlocks.

The outage, which began late in the evening, hit multiple regions across the country, cutting millions of users off from online services.

“Metrics show a major disruption to internet connectivity across Pakistan with high impact to backbone operator PTCL; overall national connectivity is down to 20% of ordinary levels,” NetBlocks confirmed in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

By late Tuesday night, neither PTCL nor the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had issued an official explanation for the disruption or provided a timeline for restoration.

The outage disrupted businesses, stalled banking transactions, and interrupted routine online communication, triggering widespread concern and frustration on social media.