The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Wednesday announced the successful completion of repair work on a faulty repeater in one of the country’s key submarine cables, restoring normal internet speeds across Pakistan.
The issue, which began affecting connectivity earlier in the week, had led to noticeably slower internet performance on Tuesday, particularly in parts of upper Punjab and Islamabad. The disruptions were further compounded by ongoing law and order challenges in some areas.
PTCL said a scheduled repair operation began at around 11 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time on Tuesday to address the fault in the undersea cable system. The maintenance activity, carried out by an international cable consortium, lasted nearly 18 hours.
During the operation, users experienced intermittent connectivity and reduced browsing speeds. “We regret the inconvenience and appreciate our customers’ patience during this essential maintenance window,” a PTCL spokesperson said.
Earlier, the state-owned operator had cautioned subscribers that they might face slower speeds and temporary outages while the repair work was underway.
PTCL currently manages three of Pakistan’s six undersea optical fibre cable systems that ensure international internet connectivity. The remaining three include two operated by Trans World Associates (Pvt.) Ltd and one run by Cyber Internet Services under the PEACE cable network.
Collectively, these six submarine cable systems provide a total international bandwidth capacity of around 13 terabits per second (Tbps), while Pakistan’s current national data usage ranges between 7 and 8 Tbps, according to PTCL.
