Internet slowdown caused by higher user base, PTA tells National Assembly

ISLAMABAD: During the past several weeks, significant internet disruption has slowed down social media applications across Pakistan. The effect is most pronounced for Meta platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp.

However, according to a recent document submitted in the National Assembly in response to internet disruption complaints, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has attributed the slowdown to high usage.

Hazim Bangwar is in the news once again

PTA said that Facebook has 50 million users in Pakistan, and WhatsApp is the most used real-time messaging application in the entire country. It is this high usage that caused the users to experience the brunt of the disruption.

PTA also said that other social media platforms were not affected as much as WhatsApp and Facebook. A PTA spokesperson said, “Customers were informed that internet speeds would be slower during peak hours”.

In September, the PTA had claimed that the slowdown affecting WhatsApp and Facebook had been resolved. However, the users continued to report service disruption.

Another reason mentioned in the report submitted in the parliament shows a statement from Minister-in-charge of the cabinet division. It said the severed submarine cable SMW4 also added to the troubles of internet users in Pakistan. The statement read that the issues stemmed from a massive data loss of 1.5 terabytes per second following a cut in the SMW4 submarine cable in June 2024.

Why does your Instagram video quality ‘go bad’ after posting?

This was compounded by a subsequent fault in the AAE-1 cable, which resulted in an additional loss of 0.25 terabytes per second.

Going forward, the PTA anticipates that the recovery of the SMW4 submarine cable will normalise the situation, and restore full service levels for users across the country.