Internet users across Pakistan may experience slower speeds and intermittent connectivity as maintenance work will be carried out on one of the country’s main undersea cables, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited said.
According to a statement issued on Monday, a scheduled repair operation will begin around 11 am Pakistan Standard Time on Tuesday to repair a faulty repeater in the submarine cable system.
The activity is expected to last up to 18 hours, during which customers could face service degradation or delays in international connectivity. “We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate our customers’ patience during this essential maintenance period,” a spokesperson for the telecom operator said.
Dear customers,
A maintenance activity is planned on one of our submarine cables to repair a faulty repeater. The activity will begin on October 14, 2025 around 11 am PST and may last up to 18 hours. Customers will face service degradation. We are sorry for the inconvenience please.
– PTCL (@PTCLOficial) October 13, 2025
The company clarified that alternative arrangements had been made to minimize the impact, but users could still experience slower browsing speeds and intermittent access to certain international websites during the period.
Telecommunications officials said normal service is expected to resume once repeater testing and repair work is completed late Tuesday or early Wednesday.
Undersea cables are a critical part of Pakistan’s internet infrastructure, carrying the vast majority of the country’s international traffic. Maintenance or failures on these cables often result in nationwide connectivity issues.
Pakistan’s Internet backbone is based on multiple international submarine cable systems, including SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5, IMEWE, AAE-1 and PEACE, which connect the country to global data centers in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Any disruption to one of these systems typically causes noticeable slowdowns, especially in video streaming, online gaming, and international calling services.
In recent years, Pakistan has faced several cases of internet outages due to undersea cable failures, with significant slowdowns reported in 2021 and 2023 during similar maintenance work. The latter operation is described as preventive, aimed at ensuring long-term network stability and avoiding unexpected outages.
