Internet services briefly disrupted nationwide

Operators attribute problem to ‘technical issue’

KARACHI:

Pakistan’s internet services on Tuesday were disrupted for a short period of time with users reporting outages and sluggish speeds from various parts of the country.

Outage tracking website Downdetector.com reported disruptions in internet services across various regions of the country with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Nayatel, and Transworld Home reportedly affected in the afternoon.

The tracking website showed that at around 4 pm, users indicated no problems with Nayatel and Transworld Home.

However, the problems with PTCL persisted. Users primarily experienced PTCL service disruptions in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi.

Transworld Home users encountered similar problems in Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar.

Nayatel users reported issues mainly in Rawalpindi, Lahore, and nearby Okara.

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Internet services monitor Netblocks’ network data also showed a disruption to connectivity in Pakistan affecting multiple providers with a high impact on Transworld and Nayatel followed by recovery.

“Operators attribute the incident, which comes amid [the] ongoing X/Twitter restrictions, to a technical issue,” it added.

Transworld Home sent an email to customers acknowledging an "unexpected nationwide outage" affecting internet services in Pakistan.

The company assured customers of an active investigation into the matter and committed to restoring services once the outage was resolved, apologising for any inconvenience caused.

Access to the social media giant X has been blocked since February 17 as allegations of rigging during that month’s general elections continue to make news.

Read: Experts warn against internet shutdowns

The ban was imposed after former Rawalpindi commissioner, Liaquat Ali Chattha, publicly claimed to have allegedly changed election results in his area. It soon went viral on social media.

On the general elections day, the caretaker government suspended mobile phone and data services across the country, despite the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) previous assurances that internet access would not be interrupted.

In January this year, a nationwide disruption on social media platforms was experienced amid a virtual event organised by the PTI.

Later, the caretaker government and PTA blamed “technical issues” for the internet outages across the country, saying that there was no guarantee that such incidents would not occur in the future.

The PTI then moved the top court against the internet suspensions, asking it to take notice of the disruption of popular social media platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.