PTCL Warns of Internet Disruptions from Cable Faults

Islamabad, September 7, 2025, 07:33 PM PKT — Pakistan’s internet users face a looming crisis, with service disruptions reported due to faults in submarine cables near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as confirmed by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Saturday. A PTCL spokesperson revealed that the South Asia-Middle East-West Asia (SMW4) and IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe) undersea systems have partially lost bandwidth, risking declining service quality, especially during peak hours, with international partners prioritizing repairs and local teams securing alternate bandwidth to mitigate impact.

This follows a pattern of disruptions, with the Africa-Asia-Europe (AAE-1) cable near Qatar causing outages in January 2025 and multiple faults in 2024, severely affecting internet and broadband services. PTCL expressed gratitude for customer patience, but the recurring issues raise concerns. Web context on telecom reliability shows past vulnerabilities, while posts found on X reflect frustration mixed with urgency—some demand fixes, others criticize infrastructure. Critically, the narrative of “repair efforts” may mask chronic weaknesses—web data hints at underinvestment, and X sentiment suggests distrust in stable connectivity, pointing to potential setbacks.