Pakistan is facing a major internet crisis, with many users experiencing[1] slow speeds and service disruptions. This problem is not due to a local issue but is the result of damage to the massive undersea cables in the Red Sea, a critical international internet highway.
The heart of the problem lies with multiple cable cuts that happened in early September off the coast of Yemen. These incidents have affected key fiber optic cables that carry a large portion of Pakistan’s internet traffic to and from Europe. Think of these cables as the main digital highways connecting Pakistan to the rest of the world. With these highways damaged, the internet is experiencing a severe “traffic jam,” causing major delays and frustration for users.
The Real-World Impact
The consequences of this internet slowdown are being felt across the country, especially in the booming IT sector. The industry, which earns over $3 billion annually from exports, is now under serious threat.
- Impact on Businesses: Companies that rely on cloud services like Microsoft Azure are facing significant challenges. When the internet slows down, it causes what IT professionals call latency spikes or delays in data traveling back and forth. For businesses that depend on fast, real-time connections for software development, financial transactions, and client communication, these delays can lead to major losses in productivity and can damage their reputation with international clients.
- Financial Loss: The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) has warned that these disruptions could cost the IT industry up to $150 million every year. They estimate that just one hour of a nationwide outage can cost the sector over $1 million.
- Freelancers in Trouble: Pakistan has one of the largest communities of online freelancers in the world. Their livelihoods depend on a stable internet connection to meet deadlines, upload large files, and communicate with clients. The current slowdown is making it very difficult for them to work, directly affecting the country’s foreign earnings.
The Dual Challenge: Infrastructure and Policy
The table below outlines the dual challenge Pakistan faces, encompassing both technical connectivity issues and the government’s approach to digital infrastructure.
| Connectivity Challenge | Policy & Technical Response |
| Single Point of Failure | Pakistan’s over-reliance on Karachi as the sole landing point for all undersea internet cables creates a major vulnerability, making the entire nation susceptible to slowdowns if a few cables are damaged. |
| BGP Rerouting Issues | When primary cables fail, the internet’s Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) automatically finds alternative routes. However, these are often inefficient, leading to increased latency (delays) and packet loss (data dropping). |
| Lack of Redundancy | While Pakistan has a large total capacity, this capacity is not always configured for full redundancy. When operators reroute traffic, the backup routes are often already near their capacity limits. This was evident during a previous AAE-1 cable fault, when rerouted traffic caused severe network congestion, leading to slow speeds and intermittent connectivity for users. |
| The Web Monitoring System (WMS 2.0) | The government has invested in a national internet firewall. While framed as a cybersecurity tool, digital rights groups have identified it as a mass surveillance system that can also filter and restrict online traffic, highlighting a disconnect between the goals of a digital economy and a system designed for control. |
What’s Next for Pakistan’s Internet Connectivity Challenges?
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and other government bodies have acknowledged the problem and are working to find a temporary solution by rerouting internet traffic through alternative, working cables. This is not a permanent fix, as these alternate routes have limited capacity and can also be congested.
IT officials have stated that a full repair of the damaged cables is a complicated and time-consuming process. Specialized ships are needed to locate the cables at the bottom of the sea, bring them to the surface, and repair them. As of late September, officials predict that these repairs[2] could take weeks without providing a definitive timeline.
In conclusion, the problem is not a lack of bandwidth, but a lack of a truly resilient and diversified network design. Pakistan’s infrastructure is not set up to manage the sudden and large-scale shifts in traffic that occur during a major cable cut.
References
- ^ experiencing (www.techjuice.pk)
- ^ repairs (www.techjuice.pk)