Internet Outage in Pakistan: Causes and Updates

Tuesday morning began with frustration as internet services across the country for millions of Pakistanis went completely offline. Social media timelines froze, online banking was disrupted and digital businesses faced hours of paralysis. From Karachi’s financial hub to the northern towns of Gilgit-Baltistan, users reported being unable to access essential services. This nationwide outage which persisted for several hours, has sparked widespread speculation about its cause. While service providers initially described the problem as a “technical fault”. Further investigation has revealed that the disruption was due to the mix of undersea cable issues and domestic infrastructure challenges.

In today’s Pakistan, the internet is more than a convenience. It is a backbone of commerce, education and governance. Pakistan is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in Asia. Small businesses rely heavily on e-commerce platforms, students attend virtual classes and professionals use cloud-based tools for work. For gig workers such as freelancers and digital marketers who collectively bring billions of dollars into the economy through remote work. The outage meant missed deadlines and stalled projects. In cities like Lahore and Islamabad, call centers serving international clients had to temporarily shut down operations.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority acknowledged the nationwide connectivity issues and described that it was due to the faults in the international submarine cable system. According to sources within the telecom sector, one of the major undersea cables linking Pakistan to the global internet grid suffered a disruption in its segment near the Arabian Sea. Such faults often occur due to seabed movement, accidental ship anchoring or routine wear and tear. Pakistan is connected to the internet through multiple undersea cables but reliance on just a few of them creates a bottleneck. When one goes down, the entire system faces strain.

Industry experts explain that rerouting data traffic takes time and often causes congestion that leads to noticeable slowdowns. However, the undersea cable fault is only part of the story. Telecom insiders reveal that Pakistan’s domestic internet infrastructure lacks resilience. This means that when international links are disrupted, even basic services like video streaming or cloud storage within Pakistan suffer. Additionally, the ongoing energy crisis and frequent power outages have exacerbated the issue. Several internet exchange points reportedly went offline due to power fluctuations that further limited the connectivity.