Pakistan Telecommunications Limited (PTCL) announced on Thursday that internet services were \u201cnow fully operational\u201d after the complete restoration of the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 (AAE-1) undersea internet cable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AAE-1 is a 25,000-kilometre cable connecting Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, with Malaysia and Singapore, then onwards to Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Oman, UAE, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France, according to its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Internet users across Pakistan complained of slow internet<\/a> and hindered access to services throughout 2024. On January 3, PTCL said teams were \u201cdiligently\u201d working to resolve the matter<\/a> of disruptions faced by users after a fault in the AAE-1 subsea internet cable connecting Pakistan slowed down the network speed in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A day after that, IT minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja said around 80 per cent of the bandwidth shortfall<\/a> caused by the fault had been recovered as traffic had been shifted to two other cables. Last week, PTCL had told Dawn.com<\/em> that there was no exact timeframe<\/a> for the resolution of slow internet connectivity or the cable\u2019s repair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, a statement issued today by the PTCL spokesperson on the cable\u2019s \u201ccomplete restoration\u201d said: \u201cPTCL resolves internet slowness caused by the AAE-1 submarine cable outage in record time. Internet services are now fully operational and browsing is smooth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It said the additional bandwidth it had added had ensured \u201cminimal disruption\u201d during the issue and services on Meta platforms \u2014 WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram \u2014 were also \u201cfully functional with seamless experience\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPakistan Telecommunication Authority and PTCL teams worked tirelessly to restore full connectivity. PTCL thanks customers for their patience and understanding during the restoration process,\u201d the statement concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n