On January 2, Pakistan faced a significant internet disruption caused by a fault in the AAE-1 international submarine cable, affecting 1,000 gigabytes per second (Gbps) of data traffic.
Minister of State for IT, Shaza Fatima, confirmed that the government had taken swift action to minimize the impact. She announced that 630Gbps of the disrupted traffic had already been redirected to an alternative route, and another 200Gbps would soon be rerouted to ensure continued connectivity.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reassured the public that there had been no significant degradation in nationwide internet services. The authority is closely monitoring the situation and collaborating with stakeholders to restore the submarine cable as soon as possible.
In an update, the PTA clarified that despite the fault in the AAE-1 submarine cable near Qatar, internet services in Pakistan remain stable. The fault, which was initially reported on January 2, 2025, is one of the seven undersea cables connecting Pakistan to global internet traffic.
The PTA explained that additional bandwidth had been arranged and incorporated into the system to compensate for the disruption. Efforts are ongoing to restore full service, though users may experience minor slowdowns during the restoration process.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) also confirmed the outage, stating that users might encounter slower browsing speeds. PTCL assured the public that its teams were working tirelessly to resolve the issue.
Further updates on the situation will be provided as progress is made in restoring full internet functionality.
