Internet upgrade

Pakistan stands at the cusp of a digital transformation with the impending activation of a new undersea cable, part of the 2Africa Pearls project. Spanning 45,000 kilometers, this advanced infrastructure promises to double the country's internet bandwidth, offering a long-overdue solution to the persistent challenges of slow speeds and frequent outages that have plagued millions of users.

For a nation with a burgeoning freelancing community along with rising e-commerce platforms and a youth population heavily reliant on digital connectivity, this upgrade will prove to be a critical enabler of economic growth. The cable's immense capacity of 180 terabits per second is expected to transform Pakistan's digital landscape, delivering faster speeds and greater reliability to users across the board. Currently, Pakistan depends on around 8 terabytes of bandwidth from existing undersea cables - a capacity grossly insufficient to meet the demands of its 240 million-strong population. The new cable, expected to contribute an additional 24 terabytes, is set to provide much-needed relief, particularly for platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, which have become integral to both personal communication and business operations. However, while the technological backbone is being strengthened, the broader internet experience in Pakistan currently remains at the mercy of state-imposed restrictions. These restrictions - ranging from throttling access to certain platforms to outright bans - pose a significant risk of impeding the fast speeds promised by this new infrastructure. Even with the enhanced backend speeds provided by the undersea cable, it could bottleneck user experience, rendering the benefits of the upgrade less impactful than anticipated.

For Pakistan to fully benefit from this upgrade, there must be a parallel effort to rethink internet policies. Enhanced connectivity and faster speeds can only transform the digital landscape if they are accompanied by open access, minimal interference and responsible regulation.