Fault in submarine cable near Qatar may affect Pakistan internet users: PTA

ISLAMABAD: Internet speed at the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) network witnessed a slowdown on Thursday after a submarine cable got damaged.

One of the five submarine internet cables of Pakistan faced damage near Qatar. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued a notice to the general public about the impact on internet and broadband usage across the country due to a fault in the submarine cable Asia-Africa-Europe (AAE-1). The PTA said that it was monitoring the situation and would keep updating telecom users as relevant teams were working to fix the fault. The PTCL manages the AAE-1 along with two other submarine internet cables, SMW-4 and IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe). The auxiliary connections from these cables reach Karachi. The SMW-4 and IMEWE have landing stations at Hawksbay Beach, while the AAE-1 lands at Clifton Beach. Transworld Associates operates SMW-5 (South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-5) as well as regional cable TWA-1 from Karachi to the UAE and Oman, connecting internet traffic from Pakistan with the international hubs in the Gulf countries. The Cyber Internet Services Ltd operates ‘PEACE’ cable originating from China and terminates the land route at Misri Shah area, DHA Karachi, to enter the sea on way to Europe.