Pakistan: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Wednesday evening that internet services have been fully restored across the country after a significant disruption. The outage, which affected various cities, was attributed to a fault in the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) system, according to PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid.
Earlier in the day, PTCL reported a data outage impacting connectivity nationwide. PTCL spokesperson Amir Pasha confirmed that teams were working diligently to resolve the issue. The disruption led to widespread complaints from users, particularly affecting major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Multan.
Global internet monitor Netblocks noted a severe nationwide disruption, with connectivity levels dropping to 24% of normal. Downdetector reported a spike in outage reports starting around 1:30 pm, with 73% of complaints related to internet issues and 23% citing a complete blackout.
Dr. Shahid Farooq Alvi, president of the Pakistan Telecommunication Access Provider Association (PTAPA), confirmed the outage affected PTCL’s services, which account for 70% of the country’s internet provision. He noted that companies were not informed about when services would resume.
The PTA stated that the exact cause of the fault is under investigation and that monitoring will continue until services are fully normalized. This disruption follows a similar, albeit brief, outage experienced in April, attributed to technical issues.
