The technical issue affecting the undersea cable had been fully resolved, restoring normal internet traffic across Pakistan, the telecom regulator confirms
ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 3rd, 2026) Internet services across Pakistan have returned to normal after engineers successfully repaired a fault in the SEA-ME-WE 5 (SMW5) international submarine cable system, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said on Friday.
The telecom regulator confirmed that the technical issue affecting the undersea cable had been fully resolved, restoring normal internet traffic across the country. The fault had previously caused intermittent slowdowns and connectivity disruptions for users on various internet networks.
The PTA said the disruption originated from a technical fault on the SMW5 submarine cable route, which serves as one of Pakistan's major international internet gateways. During the outage, some users experienced reduced internet speeds and intermittent connectivity problems.
To minimise the impact of the disruption, internet traffic was temporarily rerouted through alternative international links while repair work was underway. The regulator remained in close coordination with Transworld Associates (TWA) and the SMW5 Consortium throughout the restoration process to identify the fault and restore services as quickly as possible.
With repairs now complete, the PTA confirmed that internet services have resumed normal operation nationwide and advised that network performance has returned to its usual levels.
The latest restoration comes amid continued efforts to strengthen Pakistan's digital infrastructure and improve the resilience of its international connectivity. In recent years, the country has expanded its international bandwidth capacity through the landing of additional submarine cables, aimed at reducing the impact of outages on individual cable systems.
Earlier this year, Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja informed the National Assembly that several factors contributed to internet slowdowns and declining telecom service quality across the country. These included prolonged electricity outages, dependence on backup power systems, fibre-optic cable cuts, backhaul disruptions, equipment theft, difficult terrain, adverse weather conditions and security-related access restrictions that delayed maintenance activities.
The minister also told lawmakers that Pakistan's international connectivity had improved with the addition of three submarine cable landings in recent years. She added that fibre-optic infrastructure had expanded significantly, while the number of fibre-to-the-home connections had grown from 1.9 million in 2024 to 5.1 million within two years, reflecting increasing demand for high-speed broadband services.
