The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Friday said that due to an international submarine cable outage, its customers may experience slow browsing issues.
“Teams are working diligently to resolve the matter as soon as possible. We sincerely apologi[s]e for any inconvenience caused during this time,” the telecom company said in a brief statement.
Pakistan has been grappling with slow internet since last year, with the government consistently blaming submarine cable faults, while reports hint at possible experimentation with a “firewall” by authorities.
The internet slowdown has been especially hard for freelancers, which are more than two million and contribute to the country’s growth.
PTCL’s statement came a day after the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that internet and broadband users may experience disruptions as submarine cable AAE-1 near Qatar developed a fault.
The PTA said that a fault has been reported in the submarine cable AAE-1 near Qatar — one of the seven international undersea cables connecting Pakistan for international internet traffic.
“The concerned teams are working to fix the fault. The PTA is monitoring the situation and will keep updating telecom users accordingly,” it added.