Pakistan’s internet to remain slow into October, regulator says

ISLAMABAD — Slow internet speeds that have frustrated Pakistanis for several weeks may persist more than a month while repairs to a faulty submarine internet cable continue, the country’s telecom regulator announced Wednesday.

Internet speed and connectivity have been spotty across much of Pakistan since at least July, with users increasingly struggling to access popular messaging and social media apps.

On Wednesday, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, or PTA, announced that repairs to the faulty cable will likely be completed by early October. The cable in question, SMW-4, is one of two that authorities say needed repairs.

“The fault in SMW-4 submarine cable is likely to be repaired by early October 2024. Whereas submarine cable AAE-1 has been repaired which may improve internet experience,” the brief statement said.

Pakistan relies on seven undersea cables for internet service. The regulator reported problems with the SMW-4 cable in mid-June.

Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation Ltd., or PTCL, is the landing party for most of the seven international internet cables, including the two that have experienced technical issues. The Pakistani government holds a majority share in the national telecom carrier.

Conflicting statements

With public anger mounting, officials have issued a variety of statements to explain the slump in services.

Earlier in August, the state minister for information technology, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, blamed increased use of VPNs by Pakistanis for the slowdown nationwide. She rejected the notion that the government was deliberately throttling internet speed.

“I can say it under oath that the government of Pakistan did not block the internet or slow it down,” Khawaja said at a press briefing in Islamabad on August 18.

Later in the month, the PTA chief told lawmakers the faulty submarine cable was to blame, saying it would be repaired by August 28.

Meanwhile, the secretary for the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication told a Seate committee hearing the problem with accessing certain app functions was on the end of mobile data providers.

Although Wednesday’s statement by the PTA referenced two damaged cables, a PTA lawyer told the Islamabad high court this week that a third cable may also be damaged.

‘Firewall’

Business community and internet service providers blamed the slump in services on the government’s efforts to implement a “firewall.”

Speaking to VOA in late July, Khawaja confirmed that a firewall was being installed. However, the IT minister claimed the tool was meant to strengthen cybersecurity and not to control free speech.

Still, after a Senate committee hearing in mid-August, Khawaja told the news media the government was simply upgrading an older “web management system.”

The junior minister, currently the top IT official, has repeatedly accused the media of blowing the “firewall” issue “out of proportion.”

According to a source familiar with the implementation of the “firewall,” the tool, acquired from China and under installation by the Ministry of Defense since May, is deployed at cable landing stations in Pakistan, the place where the undersea internet data cable meets a country’s internet system.

The “firewall,” also being installed on the servers of major internet providers, has the capability to detect and slow digital communication between individual users.

In a statement condemning the “grave consequences of the hastily implemented firewall,” the Pakistan Software Houses Association, an industry group of software developers, gaming and IT companies, said slow internet speed has cost the country’s fledgling IT industry more than $300 million in losses.

“These disruptions are not mere inconveniences but a direct and aggressive assault on the industry viability,” the statement released earlier in August said.

Another organization, Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan, said users are leaving smaller internet service providers because of poor internet speed.

Internet disruptions and implementation of the firewall have been challenged in high courts in Lahore and Islamabad.

Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir filed a petition requesting that the Islamabad High Court seek details of the firewall’s scope and purpose. He said access to the internet is a fundamental right for the purpose of livelihood.

Expressing frustration with authorities’ “conflicting responses” this week, the court’s top judge demanded a detailed report on the reasons for connectivity disruptions. The next hearing is scheduled for September 3.
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