Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has announced that internet services in the country may face disruptions after submarine cable cuts were reported in Saudi waters near Jeddah.
In its statement on Saturday, the company confirmed that the damage had affected partial bandwidth capacity on two major undersea systems, SMW4 and IMEWE, that play a key role in linking Pakistan to international networks.
PTCL said its global partners are already working to restore the affected lines on priority, while local teams are arranging backup bandwidth to reduce the impact on users. “We sincerely appreciate our customers patience and understanding during this time,” the company added.
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Outage tracking website Downdetector showed a spike in problem reports on Saturday morning. Complaints began overnight and sharply increased by 9 am, with at least 16 outage cases recorded by 10:09 am.
Earlier this year, the Africa-1 submarine cable was integrated into the country’s network. The 10,000-kilometre-long cable, approved by PTCL’s board in late 2020 at a cost of $59.5 million, will provide high-capacity transmission linking Pakistan with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and France once it becomes fully operational in 2026.
