Persistent internet disruptions plague Karachi, parts of Pakistan

KARACHI: Internet users on Monday continued to face significant internet connectivity issues across the country, especially in the port city as they struggled to browse, download or share media online.

Users of Meta's instant-messaging app, Whatsapp, continued to report difficulties while trying send or receive media files, such as images, videos, and voice notes amid reports of both WiFi and mobile data services experiencing severe slowdowns.

Additionally, these internet issues were confirmed by Downdetector.com which showed WhatsApp outages spiking at around 9am today (Monday), for the second day.

In the provincial capital of Sindh, notable hard hit areas include Saddar, Liaquatabad, FB Area, and Gulistan-e-Jauhar, as users complained about experiencing extended delays in transmitting audio, video and image files.

Meanwhile, many residents from various neighbourhoods expressed frustration over intermittent internet services, particularly those working from home, freelancers, digital marketers, and students attending online classes, all of whom depend on reliable internet access.

However, no specific reason has come to light for today's slowed internet speed.

In a conversation regarding the state of virtual private networks (VPN) in Pakistan in Geo News' programme 'Geo Pakistan', Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (Wispap) Chairman Shahzad Arshad highlighted that the VPNs were "a need of (internet) users".

He said that he had requested the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to extend the registration time for VPNs while emphasising that there were problems with internet speed that did not seem to be resolved.

"ISPs do not have any solution to the low speed of the internet yet," said Arshad, reiterating people's complaints about social media apps not working properly for the past few days.

Internet disruptions are not unusual in Pakistan, as the country has been facing sporadic outages and access hindrances for months, now for various reasons.

Last week, internet and mobile services were disrupted in the wake of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) "do-or-die" protest in Islamabad.

Furthermore, the incumbent government has carried out multiple tests of its internet firewall, with the first and second trials conducted in July and August, respectively.

On both occasions, the trials slowed down internet speeds and disrupted digital platforms.

IT experts say that due to the extremely poor state of the internet in Pakistan, the country's economy is losing billions of rupees on a daily basis.