The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Wednesday attributed the nationwide slow internet to a “faulty submarine cable” and clarified that no firewalls were being installed, after drawing criticism from both lawmakers and the public.

Internet speeds have witnes­sed a considerable decline over the past few weeks, and users are facing difficulties in sending or down­loading media and voice notes through WhatsApp when connected to mobile data, and experiencing slow browsing speeds, even on broadband.

The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the government’s efforts to monitor internet traffic — including a so-called ‘firewall’ — had caused the slowdown of digital services, resulting in economic losses.

While the country’s information techno­logy minister, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, had confirmed that the government was upgrading its “web management system” to cope with cyber security threats, she has categorically denied rep­orts of the government “throttling” the internet.

During a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on IT today, PTA Chairman Retired Major General Hafeezur Rehman faced tough questioning from NA members over widespread complaints about internet slowdowns across the country.

“The internet slowdown in the country is due to a faulty submarine cable, which is expected to be repaired by August 28,” Rehman said.

He also clarified that it was the government’s web management system — and not a firewall — which was being upgraded.

“In my opinion, the internet should not slow down due to an upgrade,” he said. “The telecom [sector] has suffered a loss of [Rs] 300 million.”

During the meeting, several senators grilled the PTA chief, expressing frustration over ongoing internet issues. They questioned why TikTok was sometimes shut down, the internet was often slow, and firewalls were intermittently imposed, demanding clarification on the situation.

“You have been asked a direct question,” PPP Senator Sharmila Farooqi said to the PTA chief. “Has a firewall been installed or not?”

Rehman responded by saying the PTA had no role in the internet slowdown and attributed it to technical issues.

“Every country, including Afghanistan, has its own system,” he quipped.

MQM’s Senator Mustafa Kamal highlighted that companies have been instructed not to conduct business in Pakistan owing to internet issues.

“From your briefing, it seems like there is no issue in Pakistan,” he said to the PTA chief. “So is it really the case that all is well in the country despite all the hue and cry?”

PTI’s Barrister Gohar Ali Khan questioned the prolonged ban on social media platform X, asking for reasons behind its extended suspension and demanding to know when the ban would be lifted.

In response, the PTA chairman admitted that he had no more information on the matter than the committee members did.

The committee voiced their opposition to the ban, arguing that such restrictions hinder the country’s progress. They also requested a briefing on Islamabad and Karachi IT parks.

The PTA chairman noted that he hoped the ongoing internet issues would be resolved by August 27, adding that VPNs were not being blocked in the country, nor can they be.

“I never stated that VPNs were being restricted,” he said. “The country would experience slow internet for another six days.”

Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee, Amin ul Haq, urged the government to ensure that 5G services were available in Pakistan by March.

He expressed frustration that despite significant efforts towards the 5G auction, Pakistan still lacked the technology, while other countries were advancing towards 6G.

“If 5G cannot be introduced by December, it must be done by March to meet public expectations,” he said.

LHC seeks ‘clause-wise’ response from govt

Separately, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday rejected the federal government lawyer’s response to the internet slowdowns across the country and sought a clause-wise response in the next hearing.

As Justice Shakil Ahmad resumed hearing a petition against the disruptions, the PTA, the federal government, the information and law ministers, and others submitted their responses in the case.

The PTA’s lawyer admitted before the court that the internet speed had decreased in the country, citing four reasons for it.

Detailing reasons listed in the PTA’s report, he said that a damaged submarine cable, an internet company’s “mishandling” on July 31, a cyber attack on August 15, and excessive use of VPNs hampered the speed of the internet.

Subsequently, Justice Ahmad rejected the response submitted by the federal government lawyer and asked him to submit a clause-wise response in the next hearing.

He also directed the petitioner to amend his plea and then file it. The hearing was then adjourned till August 27 (Tuesday).

PTA lists 4 reasons for cyber slowdown

In its response to the LHC, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the PTA stated four reasons for slow internet services across the country.

The first reason was the “cutting of one of the submarine cables (SMW4) for last one month or so”, which it said had reduced the inland capacity by 1.5 terabits (Tbit) per second.

In another instance, the PTA said that a 70 per cent dip in internet services was noted, which was traced back to a major internet service provider (ISP) making a “severe misconfiguration in their core network”. The response noted that “stern action was taken against the defaulters” which led to the firing of three senior technical managers at the ISP.

The third incident was a “severe degradation of around 1.5tbps” observed on internet traffic entering the country on August 15, which the PTA specified was the Indian National Day. Later investigations, the PTA said, indicated that the drop “might be due to some distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack”.

The authority further noted that Indian state actors had been active over past few years on national days such as August 14 to “degrade internet services or deface government websites”.

Lastly, the PTA blamed the increased use of VPNs during the period, explaining that slower speeds experienced by VPN users were due to “inbuilt encryption, tunnelling and long routing of [data] packets”. “This can be attributed to the slow internet response to the VPN users during this time,” it added.