ISLAMABAD: Recently, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) discovered that the reason for the recent internet shutdown in Pakistan was a problem with an undersea cable.
As per the information, PTA Chairman Hafiz Rahman presented a briefing to the Member of the Standing Committee on Information Technology Syed Aminul Haque regarding the issue.
Syed Aminul Haq requested the PTA chairman to reveal to the public what has caused this internet blackout and whether this authority has implemented a firewall system.
In response, Chairman PTA said that the interruption was due to a fault in the submarine cable through which 7. 5 terabit data comes to Pakistan. He said that seven fibre optic cables came to the country, one of which was damaged and it is expected that it will be fixed by August 27.
With the help of the questions, the committee members were interested in VPN usage and the consequences of disruptions to local Internet access. PTA Chairman, in response to the complaints, said that the problem is simply related to failure in submarine cables; the problem is in Pakistan’s telecommunication system only.
Earlier, the Minister of State for IT, Shahzad Fatima, attributed internet disruptions across Pakistan to the use of Virtual Private Network (VPN) services.
In a press conference in Islamabad, Shaza Fatima went on record to say that the internet had not been shut down or throttled as people had claimed. However, he pointed out that the rise in VPN density imposed a technical pressure on the network.
He said that while some services became limited, more people started to use VPNs, which he insisted resulted in a decline in internet speeds in the country.
