Heavy rains, floods cause internet outages in Pakistan

Internet users in central and northern parts of the country on Friday faced internet outages as the national telecommunication company said heavy rains and floods in various regions had led to faults in the optical fibre optic network.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) is the main provider of internet bandwidth in central and northern Pakistan and millions rely on the service for internet connectivity.

“As a result, PTCL users in Northern and Central regions are facing internet outage," said PTCL..

The telecom company maintained that its teams were working to restore the services on a priority basis.

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The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) also confirmed the development and added that issues were reported in data networks between “South and North" which had caused internet connectivity issues.

The authority said that the issue was being investigated and that the PTA would monitor the situation and share further updates.

Widespread internet blackouts were reported in Islamabad and Lahore, where fixed-line broadband users as well as cellular network users reported no connectivity.

Internet users in Karachi also complained of connectivity issues on social media. Internet service providers, in their reply, said they have received an update from one of the upstream providers "regarding an outage on long haul due to flooding caused by server weather conditions".

According to PTA, there are 116 million users of 3G and 4G services and 119 million broadband subscribers.

‘Above-normal’ rainfall

The Pakistani Meteorological Department (PMD) forecasted “above-normal” rainfall in most parts of the country in August, warning that heavy downpours could trigger flash flooding in hilly areas of eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

In its outlook for August, the PMD also warned of urban flooding in plain areas such as major cities of Sindh, Punjab and K-P. “Due to extreme hydro-meteorological events over catchments, riverine floods cannot be ruled out,” it added.