Consumers to face slow internet speed for a couple of days: PTCL

• PTCL makes alternate arrangements after the internet slows down.
• It says more capacity will be added in a couple of days.
• Some consumers will still have slow speed till the addition, it adds.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Monday said it had arranged alternate channels for bandwidth to meet the requirement of internet usage in Pakistan, but users might still face slow connection for a couple of days.

The service provider's statement comes hours after a failure in the South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) submarine cable, which affected the broadband speed in Pakistan.

PTCL said shifting to alternate channels has resulted in "improved customer experience without any major impact on services".

"Even more capacity will be added within a couple of days. However, customers might face slight service degradation across the country till the addition of more bandwidth," it said.

SEA-ME-WE 4 is an optical fibre submarine communications cable system that carries telecommunications between Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France.

In a separate statement, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said "a fault in one of the international submarine cables has been reported in the sea near Karachi affecting some internet traffic in peak hours".

PTA said works were underway to remove the fault which may take some time to rectify. 

"PTA has directed operators to ensure uninterrupted internet services through alternate routes."