ISLAMABAD: Pakistani users faced disruptions in internet services due to a fault in an international submarine cable system near Abu Talat in Egypt.
Internet services faced disruptions across the country as one of its six international submarine cables developed a fault. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) confirmed that due to a fault in an international submarine cable system near Abu Talat, Egypt, users faced some degradation in internet services.
It said that work is underway through international counterparts in Egypt to rectify the fault at the earliest but did not provide a timeframe when it might be restored. The disruptions developed at the SMW-5 due to a subsea fault in the cable system operated by the Trans World Associates (TWA).
The TWA has communicated about the service degradation in international connectivity towards Europe and said that repair work was underway through international counterparts in Egypt.
The TWA and the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) are the two licence holders for international landing stations of submarine cables. While the TWA operates SMW-5 and TW-1, the PTCL submarine cable network comprises SMW-3, SMW-4, I-ME-WE and AAE-1.
The fault has occurred in the cable system coming from France and the TWA executive said ISPs were in the process of shifting the load to other submarine systems coming from Singapore.
The TWA systems cater to around 40 percent of internet traffic in Pakistan. Most of the internet outages have occurred in the country due to faults in undersea cables.
