Alert! Pakistan to Face More Internet Disruptions in Future
It seems that there will still be interruptions to the internet. Over the next few days, Pakistan is likely to experience more difficulties as a result of flooding brought on by the intense rain. Cable cuts and fibre optic cable damage have been caused by the floods in the upper Sindh region.
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom received a technical study on the topic on Wednesday from Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). In the Sukkur division, heavy equipment used to remove water from the area largely damaged fiber-optic cables. Furthermore, it is asserted that flood relief activities are the main reason for persistent internet outages.
Pakistan to Face More Internet Disruptions in Future: Source
The Ministry also demanded technical reports from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority after learning about the frequent internet outages (PTA). PTA claims that these internet interruptions were caused by trenches being excavated in several regions to channel extra water, not by sabotage or criminal activity.
The most recent outages earlier this week, according to reports, were caused by several cuts in the districts of Ghotki, Khairpur, and Sukkur, with tehsil Ranipur in Khairpur reporting the most substantial damage.
Syed Aminul Haque, the minister for information technology and telecommunications, said that the situation was urgent and that such occurrences should be anticipated in the future.
Heavy flooding has drowned most underground cable channels, despite efforts by aid workers or locals to divert floodwater by digging trenches on roads and sidewalks. When such an incident is detected in the system, the government has instructed PTCL to declare an emergency so that repairs can start while PTA regularly assesses the quality of service.
In an emergency, traffic can be diverted to alternative connections because only 70% of the 6.5 terabytes of capacity of PTCL’s network cables are currently in use.