Internet services restored in Pakistan after brief outage

ISLAMABAD: Internet services across the country were restored after a brief outage on Tuesday.

While no reason could be identified for the brief disruption in internet connectivity, sources within the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) told Geo News that the outage could have been caused by the submarine cable being affected.

Sources in the telecom industry shared said that the outage appears to be an internal matter.

It should be noted that restoring internet suspension is the responsibility of PTA and telecom operators.

The users of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. internet service also reported the outage as recorded on Downdetector, an online platform showing real-time information on various websites and services.

Meanwhile, other services also showed a dip in connectivity on the platform.

This is the second time in the last two months that internet connectivity has been disrupted in Pakistan.

Earlier, the telecom regulator shut down the internet for almost an entire day on February 8.

The internet was shut down citing security reasons with citizens facing connectivity issues throughout the election day, particularly when visiting polling stations.

On the other hand, social media platform X, formerly Twitter, has remained suspended since February 17 in Pakistan.

The closure of the micro-blogging site has been challenged in the Islamabad High Court with Chief Justice Aamer Farooq summoning the interior secretary on April 17, the next date of the case’s hearing.

Last month, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi sought a review of social media laws to “stop its misuse”.

His statement came after Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Atta Tarar’s admission that the social networking app was suspended in the country.

Tarar, responding to queries regarding X’s suspension, said that the platform was already banned when they came to power, whereas, there was no official notification regarding the ban.