Internet services in Pakistan disrupted again due to submarine cable cut

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Tuesday said that a dual cut in the terrestrial segment of South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 5 — a submarine communications cable system that extends between Singapore and France — had been reported impacting internet services across the country.

In a tweet, it said that the fault had been reported between the cities of Abu Talab and Zafrana in Egypt.

“Alternate arrangements to provide uninterrupted internet services to the users have been made. Work is underway to remove the fault,” it added.

Dual cut in the terrestrial segment of SEAMEWE-5 between the cities of Abu Talab and Zafrana in Egypt have been reported. Alternate arrangements to provide uninterrupted #internet services to the users have been made.
Work is underway to remove the fault.

— PTA (@PTAofficialpk) November 29, 2022

Meanwhile, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) said that internet services in the country were partially impacted and some customers may face “minor service degradation”.

“PTCL in conjunction with the International Submarine Consortium is working to fully restore internet services on priority,” it said in a statement, adding that the company had ample bandwidth on alternate cables to cater to data needs.

The SEAMEWE-5 submarine cable system, commissioned in 2016, is nearly 20,000 kilometres long, extending from Marseille in France to Singapore.

Currently, there are seven submarine internet cable systems connecting to Pakistan, of which four are operated by Pakistan Telecom­mu­nication Company Limited, two by Transworld Associates, and a new cable system that recently came online, owned by a Chinese company.