Submarine cable cut affects Internet speed in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A cable cut in the TransWorld 1 (TW1) submarine cable system has affected the internet speed across Pakistan.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has stated that the fault occurred in the TransWorld 1 (TW1) cable at a distance of almost 400 km off the coast of Pakistan.

“The consortium is arranging adhoc bandwidth to minimise the impact on internet services. Efforts are underway to ascertain the exact location of the fault and expected restoration time,” it added.

The TW1 cable system spans 1,300 km connecting Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

Earlier on January 13 this year, the PTA had reported a fault in the international submarine cable, SMW4, operated by PTCL, in the Indian ocean due to which some internet users experienced downgraded internet speed during peak hours.

A submarine cable fault on Dec 21 last year had affected the internet in Pakistan.

The fault affected the internet speed by 1 terabyte in the country after which the PTA started to shift internet traffic to other cables.

The Southeast Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) optical fibre submarine communications cable system had developed a fault. It carries telecommunications between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.

The PTA said it had “arranged for alternative channels for bandwidth” to compensate for a fault in an international submarine cable amid reports of slow internet speed from across the country.

Prior to that the Internet users in the country had also faced disruptions in October in a submarine cable fault near Fujairah, UAE, while in February last year near Abu Talat, Egypt.